urrection, which could alone have produced the almost equally aftonishing miracle of St. Peter's complete tranf formation. Had Jefus never rifen from the dead, "as he had repeatedly promised to do, he would have been a deceiver and an impoftor; and that St. Peter, knowing this, fhould openly and boldly profess himself his disciple when dead, after having most peremptorily denied him and difclaimed all knowledge of him when living, and should expose himself to the most dreadful dangers in afferting a fact which he knew to be falfe, and for the fake of a man who had moft cruelly deceived and disappoint ed him, is a fuppofition utterly repugnant to every principle of human nature, and every dictate of common sense, and an abfurdity too grofs for the most determined infidel to maintain.

We have here then one more proof, in addition to all the reft, of the refurrection of Chrift, intelligible to the lowest, and convincing to the most improved understanding. And that this was the great decifive fact which operated fo furprizing a revolution in the mind of St. Peter, is ftill further confirmed by the stress which he himself laid upon it, in his answer to the high priest, and by the constant appeal which he and all the other apoftles made to this argument, in preference to every other; for we are told that "with great power gave the apostles witness of the refurrection of the Lord Jefus, and great grace was upon them all*" And St. Paul goes fo far as to make the belief of this fingle article the main ground and basis of our falvation. "If thou fhalt confefs with thy mouth the Lord Jefus, and fhalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou fhalt be favedt.”The reason of this is, because the belief of the refurrection of Chrift unavoidably leads to the belief of the whole Christian religion, to the truth of which God fet his feal, by raising the author of it from the dead: and the belief of the Christian revelation, if genuine and fincere, will, with the bleffing of God on our own ftrenuous exertions, produce all thofe Chriftian graces and virtues, which, through the merits of our Redeemer, will render our final calling and election fure.

* Acts, iv. 33.

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† Rom, x. 9.

The refurrection of Chrift being thus established on the firmeft grounds, the conclufions to be drawn from it are many and important; but I fhall at prefent confine myself to two of them; which feem more particularly to deferve our notice.

The firft is, that this great event of the refurrection affords a clear and decifive proof that Jefus was what he pretended to be, THE SON OF GOD; that the religion he taught came from God that confequently every doctrine he delivered ought to be believed, every command he gave to be obeyed, and that every thing he promised or threatened will certainly come to pafs. For had not his pretenfions been well founded, and his religion true, it is impoffible that the God of truth could have given them the fanction of his authority, by raising him from the dead. But by doing this, he gave the strongest poffible atteftation to the reality of his divine miffion.

The next inference from this fact is, that the refurrection of Chrift is an earneft, a pledge, and a proof of our own. He had promifed his difciples, "that where he was, there fhould they be alfo:" And the fcriptures in numberlefs places affure us, that we fhall rife again from the grave, and become immortal. Now thefe promifes receive the ftrongeft confirmation from his refurrection, which fhows, in the most ftriking and fenfible manner, that our bodies are capable of being raised to life again, and that God will actually re-animate them, as he, did that of Jefus. In this our Saviour acted conformably to the fpirit and genius of his religion, and to his conftant method of teaching, which was, to instruct mankind by facts rather than by words. It was his intention (and thanks be to God that it was) that our faith should stand, not in the wisdom or eloquence of man, but in the demonftration of the spirit and of power. He went about therefore, not only preaching the word, but doing good, doing good miraculoufly, making the principles and the evidences of his religion palpable to the fenfes of mankind. When John fent to know whether he was the expected Meffiah or no, Jefus, instead of entering into a long and laboured proof of his divinity, took the more

compendious and convincing way of proving his point, by performing in that inftant many miraculous cures, and then referring the Baptist to what his messengers had seen and heard.* In the very fame manner, in the present instance, the affurance he gave us of our refurrection was not speculative and argumentative, but practical and vifible. A thousand objections might have been formed by the fashionable philofophers of that age against the poffibility of reftoring breath to a dead body, and raising it alive again from the grave. Our Lord could very easily have shown, by unanswerable arguments, the futility and abfurdity of any fuch objections. But the difputers of this world would have cavilled and objected without end. And therefore, to put an effectual stop to all fuch idle controverfy, and to convince all the world that it was not a thing incredible that God fhould raise the dead, he himself rofe again from the grave, and became the first fruits of them that flept. He triumphed over death, he threw open the gates of everlasting life; and whoever treads in his steps as nearly as they can through life, fhall follow him through death into those bleffed regions where he is gone before to prepare a place for fuch as love and imitate him. "For

if the fpirit of him who raised up Jefus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Chrift from the dead shall alfo quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in yout."

Since then we have fuch expectations and fuch hopes, what manner of perfons ought we to be in all holy converfation and godliness? The ancient heathen might say, the unbelieving libertine may still fay, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die; let us enjoy, without referve, and without measure, all the pleasures which this world affords, for to-morrow we may leave it, and we know of no other. But how abfurd would it be for the Chriftian to fay this, how mad would it be for him to act accordingly, when he knows, that though to-morrow his foul may be separated from his body, yet that they will be again united, and live for ever in a future ftate of existence? What an amazing difference does this fact make in our circumstances, and how inexcufable fhall we be, if it does not pro+ Rom. viii, 1I.

* Matth. xi. 4.

duce a fuitable difference in our conduct! Even the postbility of fuch an event must have a powerful influence over our mind and manners; what then must be the cafe when it amounts, as it does with every fincere believer in the Gofpel, to abfolute certainty? With what cheerfulness fhall we acquiefce under poverty and misfortunes, when we reflect, that if we bare them patiently, and hold fast our integrity, these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, fhall work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory! With what indifference fhall we contemplate the charms of wealth and power, with what horror fhall we turn away from the pleasures of fin, which are but for a season, when we know that the one may, and the other most certainly will, cut us off from an eternal and invaluable inheritance.

Suppose yourselves for a moment in fome foreign kingdom, where, after having been obliged to spend many years, you are at length fuffered to return to your own country. Suppofe further, that in this country you have left families that are infinitely dear to you, friends whom you exceedingly love and efteem, wealth and honors to the utmost extent of your wifhes. When, with the most impatient longings after all these bleffings, you set out upon your return to your native land, will any allurements that you meet with on the road tempt you from your main object? Will any accidental hardships or inconveniencies deter you from purfuing your journey? Will you not break through all obstructions, refift all temptations, and prefs forwards with alacrity and vigour towards your beloved home? And why then will you not seek your heavenly country with the fame ardour and perfeverance that you would your earthly one? You are all "ftrangers and pilgrims upon earth." This world is not your home, though you are too apt to think it fo. You belong to another city, you are fubjects of a better kingdom, where infinitely greater joys await you than have been just described, or can by the utmost stretch of imagination be conceived. Every day you live, every moment you breath, brings you nearer to this country; and the grave itself, dismal as it appears, is nothing more than the gate that leads you into it.

Confcious then of the dignity and importance of our high and heavenly calling, which renders us candidates for the kingdom of God, and heirs of immortality, let us perfevere steadily and uniformly, in our progress towards those celeftial manfions, which are prepared for all the faithful fervants of Chrift; where we shall be released from all the endless anxieties, the vain hopes, and caufe less fears that now agitate and difquiet us; and shall, through the merits of our Redeemer, be rewarded, not merely with uninterrupted tranquility and repofe, (the utmost felicity of the pagan elyfium); not merely with a vifionary pofthumous reputation, which commences not till we are incapable of enjoying it; but with a crown of glory that fadeth not away, a real immortality in the kingdom of our Father and our God.

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