Thieves And whose Life was not valued by the wise Men of their Nation so much as the Life of a seditious Murderer The Gentiles also thought this Foolishness a meer sottish Humour of some dull People to addict themselves to the Service of a Man that hung upon a Gibbet and there made a most shameful End And so they might have thought still if it had not been for his Resurrection which took away this Scandal and made it appear that it was no Folly nor Disgrace to honour one whom God had most highly honoured above all other Men. His Glory now shone the brighter because the most base ignoble and infamous Death of all others could not obscure it He appeared now like this Sun which after it hath been a while wrap'd up in a very thick Cloud breaks forth with the greater Splendor This therefore was to be asserted and firmly setled because it advanced him above all other Law-givers whatsoever who still lie in their Tombs if their Ashes have not been long ago scattered into the Air and blown no body knows whether They have a Memory indeed in Story but it is that they are dead and have no Authority now to demand Obedience to their Laws This exalts our Blessed Lord and Saviour above the greatest Kings and Conquerors that ever have been in the World who after all their Atchievements over others were at last utterly defeated by Death and so vanquished as never to recover their Thrones any more Search after the Sepulchres of all the Caesars read their Inscriptions if there be any remaining and that which seems to raise their Names and to make them great in truth depresses them and lays them low since after the loftiest Titles upon their Monuments they confess them to to lie buried underneath Hic jacet terrarum Dominus Here lies the Lord of all the Earth was the highest Stile wherein the goodliest Monuments of Earthly Monarchs could speak But our Saviour's Tomb spake another Language or rather the Angels of God told his Disciples when they came to visit it Surrexit non est hic He is risen he is not here Why seek ye the living among the Dead XVI Mark 6. XXIV Luk. 5. He is Caelorum Dominus the Lord of the Heavens as well as of the Earth whether you shall see him ascend and there he shall live for evermore This great Lord never ceases to reign He hath no Successor in his Kingdom But as God himself sitteth King for ever and ever Which when the Nations of the World heard and it was substantially prov'd how could they chuse but say notwithstanding the Scandal of the Cross as they do in the Book of the Revelation Who would not fear thee O LORD thou King of Saints who would not glorifie thy Nome for thou only art Holy or Sacred Thy Throne O God as it is else where is for ever and ever the Scepter of thy Kingdom is a right Scepter Thou lovest Righteousness and hatest Iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyle of gladness above thy Fellows that is raised him above all the Kings that ever were Thus with respect to Christ himself we ought to commemorate his Resurrection with the greatest Joy as I might show if it were not time to proceed to the other Particulars because it was in Order to his own Advancement to the Throne of Glory as the Reward of his ignominious Sufferings III. Thirdly As his Resurrection did him more Honour than his Death had done him Disgrace so it proved likewise that by his Death he had given to God all the Satisfaction that he desired And therefore is most necessary to be firmly believed and stedfastly preserved in our Memories that we who do confess him may all rest assured that by his Blood which he shed upon the Cross for us he hath made a compleat Propitiation for the Sins of all the World He himself said before he died VI. Joh. 51. that he would give his Flesh for the Life of the World that is offer up his own Body unto God a voluntary Sacrifice to preserve us from eternal Death For he laid down his Life of himself as he professed X. Joh. 18. and without his Consent no Man had power to take it away And he truly laid it down as the Blood of the New Testament for the Remission of Sins as he likewise himself speaks just before his Death XXVI Mat. 28. Now if his Blood had not been an acceptable Sacrifice unto God upon this Account for which it was offered or if there had remained any thing more to be done which God required or expected from him for the Expiation of our Sins which was the End he tells us of his Sacrifice God would not have raised him out of his Grave For that was not only to acquit him of all the pretended Crimes for which the Jews unjustly condemned him But to free him also from the Iniquity of us â—â—l which the Lord as the Prophet speaks LIII Isa â— laid upon him and to declare Publickly to alâ—â—â—e World that he had received full Satisfactiâ—n for them and demanded no more Nay by his Resurrection God not only testified that his Blood was most Precious in his Sight and had obtained what he intended but also enabled him to go with it himself into the Heavens there to perpetuate this Sacrifice to the End of the World and by Virtue of it make Intercession for us For we are to look upon his rising again after he was slain to be in order to his doing just as the High-Priest under the Law did who taking the Blood which had been shed at the Altar on the great Day of Atonement carried it into the most Holy Place where the Glory of the LORD resided and there presented it unto him From whence if he came forth alive it was a final Declaration that God was well pleas'd with the Sacrifice and was at Peace with his People In like manner did our Blessed Lord and Saviour who is both our great High-Priest and also our expiatory Sacrifice after his Blood had been shed upon the Cross gather it up again at his Resurrection and go with it into the highest Heavens there to appear with it in the Presence of God for us And from thence hath already begun to bless us by sending the Holy Ghost to us as an undoubted Testimony that his Blood hath made the Atonement which he designed Whereof we shall be more assured at the consummation of all things when we shall see him come in Person out of the most Holy Place at the last Day and appear alive the second time without Sin unto Salvation IX Heb. ult But for the present it is Evident by his Resurrection and his sending the Holy Ghost which Tertullian well calls his Vis vicaria or his Power which supplies his Place till he come again that he hath fully expiated our Sins so as to obtain an Eternal Redemption for us and
will also appear in Person to our Salvation because he hath by the same Resurrection overcome Death which was the Punishment of Sin The Conquest of that was a sufficient Declaration that Sin hath lost its Power over those who by obedient belief on his Name are made one Body with him They may be satisfied that it can no more hold them for ever in its Chains than it could him whose Members they are And consequently that their Sins of which Death as I said was the Punishment are certainly cancelled and blotted out so that they may comfortably wait upon God for his Son from Heaven whom he hath raised from the Dead even Jesus which delivers us from the wrath to come 1 Thess 1. 10. Whereas if he had not risen from the Dead we could have had no assurance no not by his Death and Passion of Remission of Sin Because there would have been no Proof that the Punishment of it viz. Death was taken away without which we cannot be said to be forgiven No St. Paul openly professes 1 Corinth XV. 17. If Christ be not raised your faith is vain ye are yet in your Sins They are not remitted that is but we are still liable to undergo the Punishment of them It is not apparent that we shall be acquitted and freed from that Obligation to suffer the Punishment of Sin unless we believe Christ's Resurrection He made indeed a new Covenant in his Blood which promises Remission of Sin But what Assurance can we have that his Blood is accepted with God for this End and that Christ hath Power to make good his Promise to pardon our Sins to release us from the Punishment of them by delivering us from Death and from the Wrath to come if he be not risen from the Dead None at all but as St. Paul there asserts just before v. 15. If Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain We have no ground to publish nor you to receive such great things as we promise unless we are as sure of this as we are that Christ died Therefore this was absolutely necessary to be established and settled in the Minds of Believers by all the Labour and Pains the Apostles could take that as Christ was delivered for our Offences they are the Words of the same St. Paul IV Rom. ult so he was raised again for our justification But further I must add that IV. Fourthly The Resurrection of Christ was necessary to be established in Mens Belief and in their Remembrance because it was the verification of the whole Gospel the great Proof of all that Christ had taught his Diciples the Christian Religion in an Epitome The Doctrine of Christ in one word Which is the ground of that Speech of the Apostle X. Rom. 9. If thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved This he makes to be the Summ of Christian Belief because he that was perswaded of this and openly acknowledged it must unavoidably believe and own the whole Gospel The truth of which Christ sealed by his Blood and God the Father sealed by raising him from the Dead Which assured all that believed it there was no other way to Life and Happiness but that alone which the Lord Jesus who is the way the truth and the life had delivered And a far greater Testimony this was which God gave to the Gospel than had been given to the Law of Moses for after he was buried we hear no more of him till our Saviour saw him in the holy Mount together with Elias where they discoursed with him of his glorious decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem Moses indeed wrought Miracles he heard Voices from Heaven there were Appearances of Angels to him upon some Occasions his Face shone as our Saviour's did when he was transfigured But as most of these were more frequent and all of them more glorious in the giving of the Gospel so besides them all the Author of it rose from the Dead as he said he would to prove that God who had sent Prophets before had now sent his Son to publish his Will unto the World If we believe this then we are obliged and there is no way to avoid it to entertain all his Doctrine to lay to Heart his Commands to take upon us his Yoke and submit our selves to the Government of his Laws and that as we hope to obtain remission of Sins and eternal Bliss which are promised to none but the Obedient On the contrary Tribulation and Anguish Indignation and Wrath are threatned to all those that do Evil which the Resurrection of Christ assures us he will not fail to inflict upon them And here it will be fit to observe these two things which are very manifest First That the Resurrection of Christ most evidently proved that no Man was bound any longer to observe any Laws formerly in force which are not contained in the Law of the Gospel But Secondly That we are all thereby necessarily and indispensably tied strictly to observe this Law which Christ hath laid upon us I. First I say it proved the Dissolution of all former Laws though of God's own making and solemnly delivered by Moses unto the Jewish Nation Who were very hard to be perswaded that they needed no longer to trouble themselves with those carnal Ordinances which required them to make a difference of Meats to wash their Bodies after several Defilements to wear only a certain kind of Garment and offer such Sacrifices as Moses prescribed which were a very heavy burden to them but only give up themselves to Christ to be ruled by his easie and gentle Laws of Temperance and Chastity Meekness and Humility Justice and Charity being ready to do good and to forgive as well as to worship God in Spirit and in Truth For unto this the Jews objected that God had made a Covenant with their Fathers by the Ministry of Moses requiring such Observances And that they could not absolve themselves from that Bond which they had received by being circumcised but stood in dread of being cut off as the Law threatened if they did not receive that Obligation by Circumcision to observe the whole Law of Moses Unto which the Apostle St. Paul gives satisfaction after this manner VII Romans beginning a Law as you all know who are bred up under the Discipline of the Law can have dominion over a Man no longer than he lives under that Law As for example a married Woman cannot be bound by the Law to her Husband any longer than he lives If he die she is so loose from her Husband that though while he lived she could not honestly marry another man yet he being dead she may give her self in marriage to another person and be no Adulteress This is the sense of the three first Verses of that Chapter To which the Jews might
you have so done your Repentance will be rejected And if others plead their Justice and honesty that they never wronged or defrauded any body but always paid every Man his own the Judge will demand but what Good did you do with all the Wealth that I blessed your honest Diligence with all you have been just it is true but have you been charitable have you supplied the Needs of the Poor fed the Hungry cloath'd the Naked taken Care of the Sick and of the Prisoners c. If not your Justice will prove a lame and defective Vertue unable to support you and make you stand in that dreadful Judgment Now that there will be such an Audit wherein every Man shall be accountable to God for what he hath done in the Body the Resurrection of Christ which we now remember is the great and most convincing Proof As the Apostle teaches us in XVII Acts 30 31. where he saith God commands all Men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Which leads me now to the next general Head propounded in the Beginning V. Fifthly That the Resurrection of Christ is a most evident demonstration of future Rewards in the other World to all that live godly in Christ Jesus For as it verified his whole Gospel of which this is a Part that they that believe in him shall have everlasting life So it is an Instance and Example of the Truth of it that they who do well shall not go unrewarded how ill soever they be used here For our Lord is the first fruits of those that sleep and hath shown by what is done for him what he will certainly do for us And it is to be considered also that he hath power by his Resurrection to perform his own Promise The Gift of Eternal Life is in his own hands For this is the record that God hath given us eternal life and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 John V. 11 12. That is all the Witnesses to the Truth of Christianity testifie this that God will give us Eternal Life and that it is in his Son's Power to bestow it And therefore he that is a Christian i. e. sincerely and effectually believes on his Son that Man may be confident of Eternal Life VI. Sixthly Which is the most powerful Encouragement to patient continuance in well doing though after all the good we do here we should suffer never so much for Righteousness sake This as well as the former would deserve to be enlarged if I had room for it in this Discourse which is to be confined within the bounds of a Sermon Which though I am unwilling to transgress yet I beg leave to say a few words of this last thing because my Text hath a particular respect to it The Apostle you heard in the beginning had exhorted his Son Timothy to endure hardship as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ and not to flinch from his Duty though he encountred in the discharge of it never so many difficulties Which he knew he would easily overcome if he did but remember Jesus his Lord and Master of the seed of David and how he was raised from the dead according to his Gospel This was sufficient to inspire him with Courage and Resolution if he always kept it in mind For what if he was persecuted What if he was reproached and vilified and turned out of doors c. So was David so was Jesus who was every way of the seed of David Both as he was born of that Family and as he endured the like Persecutions and vile Usage from the Pharisees as David had from Saul But both their Sufferings David's and and his ended at last in a Kingdom and as St. Paul saith elsewhere of our Saviour Though he was crucisied through weakness yet he lives by the power of God 2 Cor. XIII 4. Let us then be of good courage for because he lives we shall live also And where he is there shall his faithful servant be also So he hath told us himself who is the faithful and true witness the first begotten from the dead the Prince of all the Kings of the Earth Who will never suffer those who are faithful to him to lose by his Service but beget them all again after they are dead unto an endless and heavenly Life that they being Children of the Resurrection may reign with him in his celestial Kingdom Ye have heard saith St. James v. II. of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy For all his Affliction concluded in a far more flourishing Condition than he enjoyed before they befel him And if we could believe what is added in some Copies of the LXX to that Book he was also made Partaker of such an Honour as set a special mark of God's Favour upon him and declared how highly he valued his Patience For after the last words of that Book of Job according to the Original So Job died old and full of days some Greek Copies add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is written also that he should rise to life again with those whom the Lord raiseth up The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 again saith Olympiodorus denotes that he should have another Resurrection here besides that which he had from Poverty and Misery to a splendid State of Prosperity and that was when Christ rose from the dead When the graves were opened and many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his Resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared unto many XXVII Matth. 52 53. Now by Suidas and others it appears that there was a Tradition which some believed that Job was among those Saints that arose with our Saviour which if it be true was to demonstrate the high Esteem that God hath of humble Patience which moved him to do this Man the Honour of accompanying our Saviour at his Resurrection who had been so memorable for this Vertue For so Suidas his words are He triumphed gloriously after his Agonies he set up his Trophies Not such as those in the Olympicks or other celebrated Games among the Greeks but far more honourable For besides what God restored to him of worldly Blessings before he died this was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the last and greatest Prize which he won to rise to Life again with our Saviour when he overcame Death But howsoever that be we have a more sure word as St. Peter speaks upon which to build our Faith and support our Patience in well doing For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thess IV. 14. For he will appear the second time as you have hear'd and when Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory Faithful is he that called you who also will do it Therefore be faithful unto death and he will give you a crown of life Thus I have shown you there was more to be seen in an empty Sepulchre than when the Corps was in it For if our Lord be risen and be not there aâ— the Angel said then we see he was the Son of God We see him that by suffering death was made a little lower than the Angels crowned with glory and honour We see that God is reconciled unto Sinners and that Death hath lost its Sting We see the Gospel is the Rule according to which we ought to order our Life We see our high anâ— heavenly calling in Christ Jesus And Lastly wâ— see that as glorious Things are laid up in store foâ— those that love and obey him so nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus ouâ— Lord. And therefore my beloved Brethren be ye steadfastâ— unmoveable alway abounding in the work of the Lord for asmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vaiâ— in the Lord 1 Corinth XV. 58. Now the God of Peace that brought again from tâ—â— dead our Lord Jesus that great Sheperd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant Make you perfect in every good work to do his wiâ—â— working in you that which is well pleasing in his sighâ— through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever aâ—â— ever Amen XIII Hebr. 20 21. FINIS