SERM. human endeavour, without divine affiftance, could accomXXIX. plish a business fo great and difficult: if they did no miracles, TOUTO μέyσTOV σnμetov, this, as St. Chryfoftom fays, was the greatest miracle that could be, that fuch a teftimony fhould without any miracle prevails. Heb. I. 23. iv. 14. 16. Now for conclufion, all these things being confidered, it is fufficiently apparent, that this teftimony is above all exception; that no matter of fact ever had, or well could have in any confiderable respect, a more valid and certain proof: the greatest affairs in the world (concerning the rights and reputations, the eftates and the lives of men) are decided by teftimonies in all regards lefs weighty; fo that to refuse it, is in effect to decline all proof by teftimony, to renounce all certainty in human affairs, to remove the grounds of proceeding fecurely in any business, or adminiftration of juftice; to impeach all history of fabuloufnefs, to charge all mankind with infufficiency, or extreme infidelity; (for if these persons were not able, or not honest enough, what men can ever be fuppofed fuch; who can by greater arguments affure their ability, or their integrity in reporting any thing?) to thrust God himself away from bearing credible attestation in any cafe; (for in what case did he ever or can he be conceived to yield an atteftation more full or plain, than he did in this? what farther can he perform needful to convince men endued with any competency of reafon and ingenuity, or to distinguish them from men of contrary difpofition, unreasonably and unworthily incredulous?) in fine, to diftrust this teftimony is therefore in effect to embrace the vanity of the most wanton or wicked fceptic. The use of all is in fhort this, that we should heartily thank God for fo clear and ftrong an affurance of the truth of our faith; that we therefore firmly embrace it, 5 ̓Αμήχανον γὰρ ἀνθρωπίνην ἰσχὺν δυνηθῆναι τοσαῦτα ποτέ. Chryf. in Α. i. 3. Vid. in 1 Cor. Or. v. Si per Apoftolos - ista miracula facta effe non credunt, hoc nobis unum grande miraculum eft, quod ea terrarum orbis fine ullis miraculis credidit. Aug. de Civ. D. xxii. 5. and steadily perfevere therein; that we obey it, and bear SERM. fruits worthy thereof in our practice; that fo doing we XXIX. may obtain the blissful rewards which upon those terms it propoundeth and promiseth; that we may all so do, God of his mercy grant, through Jefus Chrift our Lord, to whom for ever be all glory and praise. 20, 21. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead Heb. xiii. our Lord Jefus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make us perfect in every good work to do his will, working in us that which is wellpleafing in his fight, through Jefus Chrift; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.. The third day he rose again, &c. SERMON XXX. XXX. LUKE XXIV. 46. And he faid unto them, Thus it is written; and thus it behoved Chrift to fuffer, and to rife from the dead the third day. SERM. THE words of men leaving this world (as proceeding from a depth of serious concernednefs, and influenced by a fpecial providence) are usually attended with great regard, and a kind of veneration: these are fuch, even the words of our departing Lord: the which therefore deserve and demand our best confideration. They respect two points of grand importance, the paffion and the refurrection of our Lord; of which I fhall only now confider the latter, as being most agreeable to the present season: and whereas there be divers particulars obfervable in them, I fhall confine my difcourse to one, being the main point; couched in those words, thus it behoved; which import the needfulness and expediency of our Lord's refurrection: of which I fhall endeavour firft to declare the truth, then to fhew the usefulness, by a practical application thereof. The refurrection of our Lord may appear to have been needful and expedient, upon several good accounts. 1. It was needful to illuftrate the veracity, wisdom, and providence of God, by making good what he had fignified in the ancient Scriptures concerning it; either in mystical adumbrations, or by express predictions; under- SERM. ftood according to thofe infallible expofitions, which the XXX. Apostles did receive from the inftruction of our Lord, or from illumination of that Spirit which dictated the Scriptures: the particular instances, as being obvious, and requiring large discourse, I now forbear to mention. 2. It was needful in congruity to other events foretold, and in order to the accomplishment of those designs which our Lord was to manage: the whole economy and harmony of the evangelical difpenfation, as it is reprefented by the Prophets, doth require it: it was, according to their predictions, defigned, that Christ should erect a spiritual kingdom, and adminifter it for ever, with perfect equity, in great peace and prosperity; that he fhould in our behalf achieve glorious exploits, subduing all the adverfaries of our falvation, (fin, death, and hell ;) that he should establish a new covenant, upon better promifes, of another eternal moft happy life, affuring to the embracers thereof an entire reconciliation and acceptance with God; that he should convert the world to faith in God, and obfervance of his will: in execution of these purposes, it was declared that he should undergo fuffering, and be put to death in a most disgraceful and painful manner; it confequently must be fuppofed, that from such a death he should confpicuously and wonderfully be reftored to life; how otherwise could it appear, that he did reign in glory, that he had obtained those great victories, that he had vanquished death, that the former curses were voided, God appeafed, and mankind restoredto favour by him? Had the grave swallowed him up, had God left his foul in hell, had he refted under the dominion of common mortality, had after his dismal paffion no evidence of fpecial favour toward him fhone forth; what ground had there been to believe those great things? who would have been perfuaded of them? The Scripture therefore, which foretelleth the fufferings 1 Pet. i. 11. of our Lord, and the glories following them; which faith, 26. that having drunk of the brook in the way, he should lift Pl. cx. 7. up his head; that when he had made his foul an offering 12. Luke xxiv. Ifa. liii. 10, SERM. for fin, he should prolong his days, and the pleasure of the XXX. Lord fhould profper in his hand; that because he had poured out his foul unto death, God would divide him a portion with the great, and he should divide the Spoil with the Ifa. xlix. 7. ftrong; that unto him whom man defpifed, to him whom the nation abhorred, kings should look and arife, princes fhould worship; the Scripture, I fay, foretelling these events, doth confequentially imply the needfulness of his refurrection. Μάλιστα πάντων σημεῖον ἱκα you xa rous 3. It was requifite in itself; or in respect to the many great ends for which it ferveth, and the excellent fruits which it is apt to produce as will appear by reflecting on those which are fuggefted in the New Teftament. I pafs by its particular usefulness in regard to our Lord's Apoftles and difciples; its ferving to reinforce their faith, and rear their hopes, being staggered by his paffion; to comfort them in those sorrowful apprehenfions and defpondencies of heart, which arose from the frightful events befalling him; to enlighten their minds by more perfect inftruction, removing their ignorance, and reforming their mistakes concerning him and the things of his kingdom; to furnish them with inftructions and orders requifite for managing the employments committed to them; to arm them by confolatory difcourfes and gracious promifes of fupport against the difficulties, hazards, and troubles they were to encounter, in the profeffion and propagation of his doctrine; in fine, by all his admirable deportment with them, and his miraculous departure from them, to confirm them in their faith, and encourage them in their duty: these particular uses, I say, we shall pass over, infifting only upon thofe more common ends and effects in which ourselves and all Christians are more immediately concerned. 4. A general end of it was the production and corroboration of faith in us concerning all the doctrines of our religion; for that by it the truth of all our Lord's declaTas ir rations concerning his own perfon, his offices, his power, μίζειν. his precepts and his promifes, (to the highest pitch of conChryf. in Rom. i. 4. viction and fatisfaction,) was affured; it being hardly pof τας έπιστο |