Cabinet of Things New and Old. CHRIST THE FIRST-FRUITS. LET us consider the truths and doctrines which the Resurrection was designed to confirm and illustrate. 1. It proves the excellence and perfection of the Saviour's moral character. His enemies treated as a deceiver, but his rising from the dead was an ample refutation of the groundless calumny. So he represents the Spirit as convincing the world "of righteousness, because (says he) I go unto the Father." It further attests the truth of the doctrines he taught: this might be equally said of all his miracles, but the fact of his resurrection is the crowning proof by which the seal of Heaven was affixed to his Divine commission as a prophet. At the same time, it establishes the truth of his Messiahship. He was thus proved, as he himself asserted, to be the great deliverer promised to the fathers, "of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write." Thus it was foretold that "the Messiah was to suffer, and that he was to be the first who should rise from the dead." This is intimated in the propnetic announcement, Isa. liii. 10. "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, be shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." The time of his resurrection is also not obscurely implied in the language of the psalmist―" For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, (or in the place of the dead,) neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption," Ps. xvi. 10. And again; "After two days will he revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight," Hos. vi. 2. The miraculous deliverance of the prophet Jonah from the belly of the fish was also typical of our Lord's resurrection, as explained by himself: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,” Matt. xii. 40. Hence, the apostle, when entering on the present discussion, observes, that our Saviour "rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures." 2. He was thus declared, agreeably to his own testimony, to be "the Son of God with power.' He was condemned to death for claiming to be the Son of the Blessed-an announcement which was considered to be tantamount to blasphemy, Mark xiv. 61-64; but his resurrection confirmed the truth of this claim, and proved that he was indeed the beloved Son of God, in whom the Father is well pleased. Considered in his human nature, and in his prophetical character, he was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. Viewed as a Divine person, he rose by his own power; for the Holy One of God could not see corruption, or be held by the cords of death. He had power to lay down his life, and he had power to take it again; and so he said to the Jews, "Destroy this temple E (pointing to his body), and in three days I will raise it up," John ii. 19. 3. It proved the completeness and efficacy of his sacrifice. Having made full atonement for sin by his death, the Father, by his resurrection, declared that he was well pleased with his finished work. The debt being paid, Divine justice thus publicly intimated that it had nothing more to require; the penalty being exacted, the prison-doors were thrown open, and the surety was set at liberty. Thus, the righteousness of God was declared in the remission of sins, the honour of the law maintained, and the rectitude of his moral government vindicated. He "was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification;" and, hence, he is said to have been raised from the dead, and to have "received glory, that our faith and hope might be in God." Thus we are encouraged to draw near, with humble confidence and holy boldness, by this new and living way, into the holiest of all. 4. The resurrection of Christ brings life and incorruption to light, and establishes the certainty of a future state, of the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the body. He was thus proved to be the conqueror of death and the grave. He spoiled death of its sting, and deprived the grave of its victory. He entered the dominions of the king of terrors, and foiled him with his own weapons. Through his own death "he destroyed him that has the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.' "Fear not," he says to the beloved apostle, "I am the first and the last, and the living one; and I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of death," Rev. i. 17, 18. We are thus assured that there is a deathless principle within us, which cannot be affected by the dissolution of the material frame; that there is a paradise above, prepared for the spirits of the just; and that even their mouldering dust shall "rest" in the grave, "in hope" of a better resurrection. 5. It affords a pledge of the resurrection of all his faithful followers. This is the main doctrine taught in the text, and which runs through the whole of this sublime discourse. The words may be read without the supplement," But now is Christ risen from the dead, become the first-fruits of them that slept." There is here an allusion to the offering of the first-fruits under the law, of which we have an account, Lev. xxiii. 9-14, "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give you, and are about to reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted of you, on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall eat neither bread nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the self-same day that ye have brought an offering unto your God!" The sabbath here mentioned was the great day of the Jewish Passover, and the "morrow after" was of course the first day of the week, the very day on which our Saviour rose a striking and evidently designed coincidence between the type and the antitype. The figure denotes priority, excellence, and identity of nature. It implies priority, as is intimated in the very term "first-fruits;" and so the law provided that no part of the produce of the field should be eaten till this offering had been previously made. And so the apostle observes, verse 23, "But every man in his own order, Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.' So he is elsewhere called "the first-begotten of the dead," Rev. i. 5: others were no doubt raised to life antecedently to this, but he was the first who rose to die no more thus "in all things" he behoved to "have the preeminence," Col. i. 18. The figure is also expressive of excellence, as is intimated by the apostle James, chap. i. 18: "Of his own will begat he us, by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures,"—that is, the most noble and perfect of their kind. So the Israelites were careful to present the very best of their grain as the first-fruits to the Lord; and in the subsequent offering of the wave-loaves, on the day of Pentecost, it was ordered that they should be "of fine flour," Lev. xxiii. 17. In this respect the first-fruits were typical of Him who is without blemish and without spot, the first-born among many brethren, fairer than the children of men, the chief of ten thousand, yea, altogether lovely. In fine, the figure denotes identity of nature; the first-fruits were the same in kind with the grain which was afterwards to be gathered in. And so our blessed Surety was in all points "made like unto his brethren;" as the children were made partakers of flesh and blood, he himself likewise took part of the same; for both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call us brethren. And again; "for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." The presentation of the first-fruits secured the Divine blessing on all the future harvest; and so the Saviour rose, not in a private capacity, but in his official character, as the head of his body the church. His resurrection is thus the pledge of theirs. As such an event was not impossible in the one case, why should it be thought incredible in the other? Hence the fact of Christ's resurrection is referred to as proving the resurrection of all believers. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.' Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you." "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you,” 1 Thess. iv. 4; 2 Cor. iv. 14; Rom. viii. 11. 66 Lastly. The resurrection of Christ exhibits a pattern of the resurrection of his people. This point is also largely insisted on by the apostle. He calls the Saviour" the last," or second, "Adam"-not only in allusion to the public character of the first, as the federal head of mankind, but as intimating the correspondence that subsists between the condition of the first and the second Adam, and that of those whom they respectively represented. And again, verses 47-49: "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." This corresponds with what is elsewhere said on the same subject, Phil. iii. 21: "He shall change our vile (or humble) body, that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Thus there will be a resemblance, both physical and moral, between "the first-born" and the younger members of the heavenly family: all shall be fashioned after the same perfect model; all shall be "conformed to the image of God's Son," Rom. viii. 29. In improving this subject, we may observe that the death of believers is here compared to a sleep. This intimates not only that to them death has no sting, but that the grave is converted into a bed of rest, consecrated and perfun.ed by the presence of their Saviour, whence they shall arise to everlasting life: "They die in Jesus, and are bless'd- From sufferings and from sins released, Why should we fear the approach of death to them that are in Christ? He is no longer the king of terrors, but the messenger of peace. Why shrink from the darkness and corruption of the tomb? It shall not always retain its dominion. "The graves of all the saints he bless'd, And soften'd every bed; Where should the dying members rest, The almighty Saviour "both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living." The bodies of his saints are committed to him as a precious deposit, and "of all that were given to him he shall lose nothing, but shall raise it up again at the last day.' Behold," says Paul, "I show you a mystery we shall not all sleep, but we shall all oe enanged, in a moment. ir the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," verses 51-57. 66 Is Jesus, our Lord, risen from the dead! let us show that we are risen with him by seeking those things that are above, "where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God." 'Therefore," says the apostle, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life,” Rom. vi. 4. How sure the hope of a blessed resurrection to them that die in the Lord! While the wicked is driven away in his wickedness, the righteous hath hope in his death. While the former "is chased out of the world," the latter has "a desire to depart, that he may be with Christ." The impenitent and the ungodly shall also rise, but in what different circumstances!-to what an opposite prospect! They shall rise" to shame and everlasting contempt"-to meet the eye of the righteous Judge, and to hear the appalling sentence, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Let them, while it is called to-day, hasten to his footstool, and cast themselves on his mercy. Let them "kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and they perish from the way." "For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet." " WILLIAM LOTHIAN. ETERNITY. "O ETERNITY! eternity!" exclaimed an infidel, as he lay in despair upon his death-bed: "O eternity! eternity!" Who can paraphrase the words for ever and ever? I feel the difficulty. There is a meaning in them which our limited powers cannot fathom. The finite cannot comprehend the infinite. As we stretch our minds to take in the boundless prospect, we sink back in conscious weakness, and feel that it is but a glimpse that we can get of the illimitable scene which lies before us, and which we designate by the term eternity. If we go to the dictionary, we find that term defined to be duration, without beginning or end. In this view, we may be said to occupy a certain point in eternity. We look back upon a duration that never began, and for ward to a duration that is never to end. God is the only Being of whom eternity, in this sense, can be predicated. He is without beginning of days or end of years-the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. He inhabits eternity; it is his proper dwellingplace: past and future have no meaning in application to the duration of his being. But in respect to ourselves and our fellow-men, eternity denotes an endless duration to come. We look back a few brief years, and reach the period when we were not. We came into being as it were but yesterday, and to-morrow we cease to be where we now are: we pass from this state of living men, and all that is visible of us is laid in the ground and turns to dust. And if this were the end of our being, |