see how it is possible to possess all things, even while we have nothing!

But there is still one more capacity in which our Saviour is to be understood. He that is the Way, and the Truth, is also the Life; and what a blessed hearing is this in such a world as ours, where death spoils every prospect, dissolves all society, and renders every possession vain and empty! What is your life? It is a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth; like a cloud that passes over our heads before the wind, and is gone. Even a wise Heathen, can tell us, that it is rather death than life; and that the only real life is to be found, not in this world, but out of it. Ask the man of pleasure how he finds it? He must answer, according to matter of fact, (if he has any sense in him) that it is a life, which through the fear of death brings him into continual bondage. The thought of death may be profitable, as it leads us toward another world; but it turns this into a Golgotha, a place of a scull; a place to which men are brought only to be executed. When the Saviour appears in it, it is no longer that lamentable place it was before; its very nature is changed: for when he beheld the funeral procession of a young man that was carried out to be buried, and the widow his mother following, he said unto her, weep not: and what he said to her, he saith to us all it is a voice to the whole Christian world. He who spake these words to that poor widow, was himself the resurrection and the life, and was about to raise her son. She did not know that, and therefore she wept. But now we all know it; and therefore we ought not to weep.

:

Since the resurrection of Christ, death is no death, because he has no sting; for sin is the sting of death: and when sin is taken away, as by the atonement of

Christ, death should no longer be terrible. Hence the apostle exclaims, O death, where is thy sting? 1 or if Christ be risen, it is a proof that the debt is paid; and that sin, which kills us all, is no longer imputed.

From the history of man it is known, that if sin had not entered, man would not have died; for death cometh by sin; without it there would have been none. The life of paradise would have been sustained perpetually by the tree of life. But when man fell into sin, he was driven from the tree of life, to return to the dust out of which he was taken. To restore that life which we lost in Adam, and give us that to which the tree of life would have raised us, the Saviour came into the world. How much more than this his own words may promise to us, we cannot affirm; but he tells us I am come that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly: whence we may gather indubitably, that the life which we obtain through Christ is better than we should have derived from Adam; and that for this reason he is called the Tree of Life: he does what that would have done, and more: and as we have no title but through him, he is therefore called our Life.

4 is a plain doctrine, and generally understood, that Christ becomes our life by his resurrection from the dead; and that therefore he calls himself the rection and the life: but the Gospel teaches, that rist is our lite before the resurrection of the body; being a resurrection to grace and newness of ich begins here, and is the pledge and earnest surection of the body. Modern Christians mk that the christian religion is a history

true history) of things without us: but is

also a history of something within us? does it

not also preach up a principle of life, given to Christians at this time, and distinguishing them from a dead world that lieth in darkness? is not Christ now a life to animate and revive the dead; as well as a light to instruct the ignorant? Doth not the prophet say the same-awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light? Can the sunt of the spring shew itself, without raising the roots that lie buried in the earth? Even so, he that gives light must give life at the same time, and by the same act. And this must be the life of which Christ himself speaketh, where he saith, he that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live; and he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. This must be meant of that spiritual life with which we now live: and the occasion on which the words were spoken, the resurrection of Lazarus, relates to the same for Martha had said, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. But this confession was not sufficient; the resurrection of Lazarus was to shew something more: it was to shew, not only that the hour is coming, but that it now is, when the dead in sin hear his voice and come forth. Reason therefore requires that the words which follow should be strictly taken-"I am the resurrection and the life"-and were they not strictly fulfilled, when the Gentile world were raised up by the Gospel from that hopeless death of sin in which they lay? And are they not now fulfilled in every sinner, who at this time is raised up from the death of sin to the life of righteousness? To such Jesus Christ is now the resurrection and the life: but there are many who say with Martha, that they believe the resurrection at the last day, without seeming to regard or understand this: but blessed and holy is he who hath part in this first resurrection: to

him Christ is truly the life; and over him the second death shall have no power.

I have now shewed you, how just a description the text hath given us of Jesus Christ; and from that you may learn the value of his religion; and what a blessing it is to us all that we are still in possession of it ; for if we lose that, we lose all.

The world would no

If there be any such

fonger be a place fit to live in. thing as a religion without Christ, you may judge what it must be it can neither shew us the way, nor tell us the truth, nor give us the life; and that must be a strange religion. It has no teacher to shew us the way; no mediator to prepare it. It leaves us like sheep in a desert; departed from God, and not knowing how to return to him. If we try to be wise, we are ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. If we are shocked at the brevity and vanity of man in this world, we see no remedy. The richest and fairest parts of the earth, whatever trees and fruits they may produce, have no tree of life. Death reigns without controul: for whatsoever the various schemes of man's wisdom may promise, not one of them all ever pretended to give life.

How devoutly thankful ought we to be for that inestimable blessing which God hath bestowed upon us, in giving us his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life! The way to heaven lies right before us, and is so plain that a child may find it. We have knowledge of that truth, which is above all truth: and we partake

of that life, which is a life of eternity.

We shall be thankful in the only proper manner, and as God requires, if we take advantage of these blessings, and use them as we ought.

Therefore, if Christ be the way; let us return to God by him: let us pray, with him for our intercessor; and then we shall have access to God. It is the custom in the East to this day for persons to gain access to some great and powerful man, by sending an offering before them to prepare the way. Our offering is Christ: we offer hiin to the Father, and we are accepted in the beloved. Paradise itself is open to those who seek it in this manner: no flaming sword is now in the way, to stop them from the tree of life.

If Christ be the Truth, let us find him in the word of truth. Let us learn how he is the end of the law for righteousness: how it all points to him, and is fulfilled in him. Let us look unto him through the works of the creation, and learn how he is the truth of nature: the true vine; the true bread; the true light; the truth of every thing our eyes can see, that is great and valuable in the world. Till we see this use and sense of nature, the sun may give light to our eyes, but it gives none to our minds.

If Christ be the Life, let him be our life. As man liveth not by the bread of earth alone, but by the bread of heaven; let us go out to gather that manna, where it is to be found (and as often as it is to be found) at the table of the Lord. Christ our passover being sacrificed for us, let us keep the feast; and let us think it a feast; as indeed it is, in comparison of which all that is in the world is emptiness and famine. Christ being also the true Tree of Life, the old prohibition is no longer in force against us; we may now with safety put forth our hand, and take of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.

Now to God the Father, &c.