an immoderate love of this life would produce a disrelish for the next: or, Jesus Christ must confine his gifts, and our hopes to the present world, and promise us nothing in the world to come, and then our destiny would be deplorable indeed.

Had we hope only in this life, whither should we flee in those moments, in which our minds, glutted and palled with worldly objects, most clearly discover all the vanity, the emptiness, and the nothingness of them? Had we hope only in this life whither could we flee when the world shall disappear; when the 'heavens shall pass away with a great noise, when the elements shall melt with fervent heat, when the earth, and all its works, shall be burnt up?' 2 Pet. iii. 10.

Had we hope only in this life whither could we flee when the springs of death, which we carry in our bosoms, shall issue forth and overwhelm the powers of life? What would become of us a few days hence, when, compelled to acknowledge the nullity of the present world, we shall exclaim, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity?

Ah! I am hastening to the immortal world, 1 stretch my hands towards the immortal

world, I feel, I grasp the immortal world; I have no need of a Redeemer, who reigns in this present world; I want a Redeemer, who reigns in the immortal world! My finest imaginations, my highest prerogatives, my most exalted wishes, are the beholding of a reigning Redeemer in the world to which I go; the sight of him sitting on the throne of his Father; the seeing of the four living creatures, and the four-and-twenty elders, falling down before him, and casting their crowns at his feet,' Rev. iv. 9, 10: the hearing of the melodious voices of the triumphant hosts, saying, 'glory be unto him that sitteth upon the throne,' chap. v. 13. The most ravishing object, that can present itself to my eyes in a sick-bed, especially, in the agonies of death, when I shall be involved in darkness that may be felt, is my Saviour, looking at me, calling to me, animating me, and saying, 'To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.' But what would all this be? Jesus Christ will do more. He will give me power to conquer, and he will crown me when the battle is won. May God grant us these blessings! Amen.

SERMON XXI.

1

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.

PSALM CXviii. 15, 16,

The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly.

uates into her heart, and excites, if I may venture to speak so, from the bottom of her soul, every emotion of tenderness and love of which she is capable, he adds 'Mary!'

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WOMAN, why weepest thou?' John xx. 13. 15, was the language of two angels and of Jesus Christ to Mary. The Lord had been crucified. The infant church was in mourning. The enemies of Christianity were tri- This is the magnificent, this is the affectumphing. The faith of the disciples was ing object, on which the eyes of all the tottering. Mary had set out before dawn of church are this day fixed. This is the comday, to give vent to her grief, to bathe the fortable language, which heaven to-day protomb of her master with tears, and to render claims. For several weeks past, you have funeral honours to him. In these sad circum- been in tears. Your churches have been in stances, the heavens opened, two angels mourning. Your eyes have beheld only sad clothed in white garments descended, and and melancholy objects. On the one hand, placed themselves on the tomb that enclosed you have been examining your consciences, the dear depositum of the love of God to the and your minds have been overwhelmed with church. At the fixed moment, they rolled the sorrowful remembrance of broken resoaway the stone, and Jesus Christ arose from lutions, violated vows, and fruitless commuthe grave loaded with the spoils of death. nions. On the other, you have seen Jesus, Hither Mary comes to see the dead body, the betrayed by one disciple, denied by another, poor remains of him 'who should have re- forsaken by all; Jesus, delivered by priests deemed Israel,' Luke xxiv. 21, and, finding to secular powers, and condemned by his the tomb empty, abandons her whole soul to judges to die; Jesus, sweating, as it were, grief, and bursts into floods of tears. The great drops of blood,' Luke. xxii. 34, praying heavenly messengers directly address these in Gethsemane, 'O my Father! if it be poscomfortable words to her, Woman, why sible, let this cup pass from me,' Matt. xxvi. weepest thou? Scarcely had she told them 39, and crying on Mount Calvary, 'My God, the cause of her grief, before Jesus puts the my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' chap same question to her, Woman, why weepest xxvii. 46; Jesus, fying in the grave: these thou? And to this language, which insin-have been the mournful objects of your late

contemplation. At the hearing of this tragical history, conscience trembles; and the whole church, on seeing the Saviour entombed, weeps as if salvation were buried with him. But take courage thou tremulous conscience! Dry up thy tears, thou church of Jesus Christ! Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion!' Isa. ii. 2. Come, my brethren! approach the tomb of your Redeemer, no more to lament his death, no more to embalm his sacred body, which has not been suffered to sce corruption,' Acts ii. 27, but to shout for joy at his resurrection. To this the prophet invites us in the text; The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly.'

In proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have, 1. Presumptions. 2. Proofs. 3. Demonstrations. The circumstances of his burial afford some presumptions; the testimonies of the apostles furnish us with some arguments; and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the church furnishes us with demonstrations.

1. From the circumstances of the burial of Jesus Christ, I derive some presumptions in favour of the doctrine of the resurrection. Jesus Christ died. This is an incontestable principle. Our enemies, far from pretending to question this, charge it on Christianity as a reproach.

The tomb of Jesus Christ was found empty a few days after his death. This is another incontestable principle. For if the enemies of Christianity had retained his body in their possession, they would certainly have producI have not questioned, whether the psalmed it for the ruin of the report of his resurin general, and the text in particular, regard rection. Hence arises a presumption that the Messiah. The ancient Jews understood Jesus Christ rose from the dead. the psalm of him; and therefore made use If the body of Jesus Christ was not raisof it formerly among their prayers for his ad-ed from the dead, it must have been stolen vent. We agree with the Jews, and, on this away. But this theft is incredible. Who article, we think they are safer guides than committed it? The enemies of Jesus Christ? many Christians. The whole psalm agrees Would they have contributed to his glory, with Jesus Christ, and is applicable to him by countenancing a report of his resurrecas well as to David, particularly the famous tion? Would his disciples? It is probable, words that follow the text: The stone, they would not; and, it is next to certain, which the builders refused, is become the they could not. How could they have underhead-stone of the corner. This is the Lord's taken to remove the body? Frail and timodoing, it is marvellous in our eyes.' These rous creatures, people, who fled as soon as words are so unanimously applied to the ex- they saw him taken into custody; even altation, and particularly to the resurrection, Peter, the most courageous, trembled at the of Jesus Christ, in the books of the New voice of a servant girl, and three times deTestament, in the gospel of St. Mathew, in nied that he knew him; people of this charthat of St. Mark, in that of St. Luke, in the acter, would they have dared to resist the aubook of Acts, in the epistle to the Romans, thority of the governor? Would they have and in that to the Ephesians, that it seems undertaken to oppose the determination of needless, methinks, to attempt to prove a the Sanhedrim, to force a guard, and to matter so fully decided. elude, or to overcome, soldiers armed and aware of danger? If Jesus Christ were not risen again (I speak the language of unbelievers), he had deceived his disciples with vain hopes of his resurrection. How came the disciples not to discover the imposture? Would they have hazarded themselves by undertaking an enterprise so perilous, in favour of a man who had so cruelly imposed on their credulity?

The present solemnity demands reflections of another kind, and we will endeavour to

show you,

I. The truth of the event of which the text speaks; The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly.'

II. We will justify the joyful acclamations, which are occasioned by it, The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous.'

I. Let us examine the evidences of the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Infidelity denies it, and what perhaps may be no less injurious to Christianity, superstition pretends to establish it on falsehood and absurdity. A certain traveller* pretends, that the inhabitants of the Holy Land still show travellers' the stone which the builders refused,' and which became the head-stone of the corner. In order to guard you against infidelity, we will urge the arguments which prove the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ: but, to prevent superstition, we will attribute to each argument no more evidence than what actually belongs to it.

* Peter Belon. Observ. lib. ii. cap. 83. Belon was a countryman of our author, a physician of Le Mans, who travelled from 1546 to 15-19. His travels were published 1555.

But were we to grant that they formed the design of removing the body, how could they have executed it? How could soldiers, armed, and on guard, suffer themselves to be overreached by a few timorous people? Either (says St. Augustine)," they were asleep or awake: if they were awake, why should they suffer the body to be taken away? If asleep, how could they know that the disciples took it away? How dare they then depose that it was stolen? All these, however, are only presumptions.

The testimony of the apostles furnishes us with arguments, and there are eight considerations which give their evidence sufficient weight. Remark the nature, and the number, of the witnesses: the facts they avow, and the agreement of their evidence: the tribunals before which they stood, and the time

* Serm. ii. in Ps. xxxvi.

in which they made their depositions: the place where they affirmed the resurrection, and their motives for doing so.

he was seen of all the apostles; and last of all, of me also, as of one born out of due time.' So numerous were the witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ! from this fact we derive a second argument; for, had the witnesses been few, it might have been said, that the base design of deceiving the whole church was formed by one, and propagated by a few more; or that some one had fancied he saw Jesus Christ: but when St. Paul, when the rest of the apostles, when 'five hundred brethren' attest the truth of the fact, what room remains for suspicion and

1. Consider the nature of these witnesses. Had they been men of opulence and credit in the world, we might have thought that their reputation gave a run to the fable. Had they been learned and eloquent men, we might have imagined, that the style in which they told the tale had soothed the souls of the people into a belief of it. But, for my part, when I consider that the apostles were the lowest of mankind, without reputation to impose on people, without authority to compel, and without riches to reward: when I consider, that they were mean, rough, unlearned men, and consequently very unequal to the task of putting a cheat upon others; I cannot conceive, that people of this char-nology, depending on long and difficult calacter could succeed in deceiving the whole

church.

doubt ?

3. Observe the facts themselves which they avow. Had they been metaphysical reasonings, depending on a chain of principles and consequences; had they been periods of chro

culations; had they been distant events,
which could only have been known by the
relations of others; their reasonings might
have been suspected; but they are facts
which are in question, facts which the wit-
nesses declared they had seen with their own
eyes, at divers places, and at several times.
Had they seen Jesus Christ?
Had they
touched him? Had they sitten at table and
eaten with him? Had they conversed with
him? All these are questions of fact: it
was impossible they could be deceived in
them.

2. Consider the number of these witnesses. St. Paul enumerates them, and tells us, that Jesus Christ was seen of Cephas,' 1 Cor. xv. 5, &c. This appearance is related by St. Luke, who says, 'the Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon,' chap. xxiv. 34. The apostle adds, then he was seen of the twelve:' this is related by St. Mark, who says, 'he appeared unto the eleven,' chap. xvi. 14; it was the same appearance, for the apostles retained the appellation twelve, although, after Judas had been guil- 4. Remark the agreement of their evidence. ty of suicide, they were reduced to eleven. They all unanimously deposed, that Jesus St. Paul adds farther, 'after that he was seen Christ rose from the dead. It is very extraof above five hundred brethren at once:' ordinary, that a gang of five hundred impos Jesus Christ promised this appearance to the tors (I speak the language of infidels), a comwomen, 'Go into Galilee, and tell my breth-pany, in which there must needs be people ren that they shall see me there,' Matt. xxviii. 10. St. Luke tells us, in the first chapter of Acts, that the church consisted of 'about a hundred and twenty' members; this was the church at Jerusalem: but the greatest part of the five hundred, of whom St. Paul speaks, were of Galilee, where Jesus Christ had preached his gospel, and where these converts abode after his resurrection. The apostle subjoins, 'after that he was seen of James; this appearance is not related by the evangelists, but St. Paul knew it by tradition. St. Jerome writes, that in a Hebrew gospel, attributed to St. Matthew, called The Gospel of the Nazarenes, it was said, 'Jesus Christ appeared to St. James;' that this apostle having made a vow neither to eat nor drink till Jesus should rise from the dead, the divine Saviour took bread and broke it, took wine and poured it out and said to him, 'Eat and drink, for the Son of Man is risen from the dead.' St Paul yet adds farther, Then

Two of our Lord's apostles were named James. The elder of the two, brother of John, was put to death by Herod, Acts xii. 2. The other, who was a first cousin to Jesus Christ, was called the less, the younger probably, and lived many years after. It is not certain which of the two St. Paul means. If be mean the first, he had the account of the appearing of the Lord to him, probably, as Mr. Saurin says, by tradition: if the last, it is likely he had it from James himself; for him he saw at Jerusalem, Gal. 1. 19. and he was living in the year 57, when St. Paul wrote this first Epistle to the Corinthians.

The gospel, of which Mr. Saurin, after St. Je rome, speaks, is now lost. It was probably one of

of different capacities and tempers, the witty and the dull, the timid and the bold: it is very strange, that such a numerous body as this should maintain a unity of evidence. This however is the case of our witnesses. What Christian ever contradicted himself? What Christian ever impeached his accomplices? What Christian ever discovered this pretended imposture?

5. Observe the tribunals before which they gave evidence, and the innumerable multitude of people by whom their testimony was examined, by Jews and heathens, by philosophers and Rabbies, and by an infinite number of people, who went annually to Jerusalem. For, my brethren, Providence so ordered

those mangled, interpolated, copies of the true gospel of St. Matthew, which through the avidity of the lower sort of people to know the history of Jesus Christ, had been transcribed, and debased, and was handed about the world. I call it mangled; because some parts of the true gospel were omitted. I call it interpolated; because some things were added from other gospels, as the history of the woman caught in adultery, from St. John: Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. iii. cap. 39. and others from report, as the above passage relative to James, &c. This book was written in Syriac, with Hebrew characters. St. Jerome translated it into Greek and Latin, and divers of the fathers quote it, as Hegesippus. Euseb. E. H. lib. iv. 22. Ignatus Ep. ad Smyrnenses, Edit. Usserii, p. 112. Clement of Alexandria, Stromat. lib. ii. p. 278, Edit. Lugdun, 1616. Origen, St. Jerome, &c. It went by the names of the gospel according to St. Matthew, the gospel according to the Hebrews, the gospel of the twelve apostles, the gospel of the Nazarenes. See Luke i. I, 2.

had been craftily led, during the life of Jesus Christ, into the expectation of some temporal advantages, how came it to pass, that, after they saw their hopes blasted, and themselves threatened with the most rigorous punishments, they did not redeem their lives by confessing the imposture? In general, the more wicked a traitor is, the more he trembles, alters, and confesses, at the approach of death. Having betrayed, for his own interest, the laws of his country, the interests of society, the confidence of his prince, and the credit of religion, he betrays the companions of his imposture, the accomplices of his crimes. Here, on the contrary, the apostles persist in their testimony till death, and sign the truths they have published with the last drops of their blood. These are our arguments.

those circumstances that the testimony of the apostles might be unuspected. Providence continued Jerusalem forty years after the resurrection of our Lord, that all the Jews in the world might examine the evidence concerning it, and obtain authentic proof of the truth of Christianity. I repeat it again, then, the apostles maintained the resurrection of Jesus Christ before Jews, before pagans, before philosophers, before Rabbies, before courtiers, before lawyers, before people, expert in examining, and in cross-examining, witnesses, in order to lead them into selfcontradiction. Had the apostles borne their testimony in consequence of a preconcerted plot between themselves, is it not morally certain, that, as they were examined before such different and capable men, some one would have discovered the pretended fraud? We proceed now to our demonstrations, 6. Consider the place, in which the apostles that is, to the miracles with which the aposbore their testimony. Had they published tles sealed the truth of their testimony. Imathe resurrection of the Saviour of the world gine these venerable men addressing their in distant countries, beyond mountains and adversaries on the day of the Christian Penseas, it might have been supposed, that dis- tecost in this language: 'You refuse to betance of place, rendering it extremely diffi- lieve us on our depositions; five hundred of cult for their hearers to obtain exact informa- us, you think are enthusiasts, all infected tion, had facilitated the establishment of the with the same malady, who have carried our error! But the apostles preached in Jerusa- absurdity so far as to imagine that we have lem, in the synagogues, in the pretorium; seen a man whom we have not seen; eaten they unfolded and displayed the banners of with a man with whom we have not eaten; their Master's cross, and set up tokens of his conversed with a man with whom we have victory, on the very spot on which the infamous not conversed: or, perhaps, you think us iminstrument of his sufferings had been set up. postors, or take us for madmen, who intend to 7. Observe the time of this testimony. Had suffer ourselves to be imprisoned, and tortuthe apostles first published this resurrection red, and crucified, for the sake of enjoying the several years after the epocha which they as- pleasure of deceiving mankind by prevailing signed for it, unbelief might have availed it- upon them to believe a fanciful resurrection: self of the delay: but three days after the death you think we are so stupid as to act a part so of Jesus Christ, they said, he was risen again, extravagant. But bring out your sick; preand they re-echoed their testimony in a sin- sent your demoniacs; fetch hither your dead; gular manner at Pentecost, when Jerusalem confront us with Medes, Parthians, and Elamexpected the spread of the report, and endea-ites; let Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Egypt, voured to prevent it; while the eyes of their enemies were yet sparkling with rage and madness, and while Calvary was yet dyed with the blood they had spilt there. Do impostors take such measures? Would not they have waited till the fury of the Jews had been appeased, till judges and public officers, had been changed, and till people had been less attentive to their dispositions?

8. Consider, lastly, the motives which induced the apostles to publish the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Survey the face of the world, examine all the impostures, that are practised in society; falsehood, imposition, treachery, perjury, abound in society. To every different trade and profession some peculiar deceptions belong. However, all mankind have one design in deceiving, they all deceive for their own interest. Their interests are infinitely diversified but it is interest, however, that always animates all deceivers. There is one interest of pride, another of pleasure, a third of profit. In the case before us, the nature of things is subverted, and all our notions of the human heart contradicted. It must be presupposed, that, whereas other men generally sacrifice the interest of their salvation to their temporal interest, the apostles, on the contrary, sacrificed their temporal interest without any inducement from the interest of salvation itself. Suppose they

Phrygia, Pamphylia, let all nations and people send us some of their inhabitants, we will restore hearing to the deaf, and sight to the blind, we will make the lame walk, we will cast out devils, and raise the dead. We,we publicans, we illiterate men, we tent-makers, we fishermen, we will discourse with all the people of the world in their own languages. We will explain prophecies, elucidate the most obscure predictions, develope the most sublime mysteries, teach you notions of God, precepts for the conduct of life, plans of morality and religion, more extensive, more sublime, and more advantageous, than those of your priests and philosophers, yea, than those of Moses himself. We will do more still. We will communicate these gifts to you, "the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, the gifts of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues," 1 Cor. xii. 8, &c. all these shall be communicated to you by our ministry.'

All these things the apostles professed; all these proofs they gave of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; this Jesus bath God raised up; and he hath shed forth this which yo now see and hear,' Acts ii. 32, 33. This consideration furnishes us with an answer to the greatest objection that was ever made to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and, in ge