power of the devil and saved us from death eternal. The end of Christ's suffering was to save us from our sins, that he might purify unto him a peculiar people "zealous of good works." "If a man love me," says Christ, if he values me, and what I have done for him, "he will keep my commandments." And for our souls' and for God's sake, let us often remember that it is utterly impossible that any man should be happy without being restored, by a holy life, to the image of God:-that alone can make us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in heaven.-WILSON. They went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. Now he is buried. And because he had openly declared that they should kill him, and that after three days he would rise again from the dead, the Jews took all imaginable care to secure the body till after the third day; they procured a guard of soldiers to watch the sepulchre, and sealed the stone that covered the door of the tomb. And such was the order of providence that not one of the Apostles were concerned in his burial. Thus God, in a manner we do not always take notice of, confirms our faith.WILSON. HYMN. Why do we mourn departing friends 5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, She goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. 8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. g 9¶ And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. 10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid go tell h my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. a Mark xvi. 1. Luke xxiv. 1. John xx. 1. 6 ch. xxvii. 56. Or had been. c See Mark xvi. 5. Luke xxiv. 4. John xx. 12, d Dan. x. 6, e ch. xii. 40: & xvi. 21; & xvii. 23; & xx. 19. fch. xxvi. 32. Mark xvi. 7, g Sec execution of those other offices which remain to be fulfilled by him in heaven for the application of his sacrifice unto us; for, having in the resurrection justified himself, he thereby rose for our justification likewise, Rom. iv. 25. For if the debt had not been taken quite off by the surety, it would have been upon the principal still. And therefore, the Apostle proveth the resurrection by this, that God's mercies Christ were not risen from the dead, are sure, Acts xiii. 34; whereas, if we should be yet in our sins; and so, by consequence, the mercies of David should have failed us, 1 Cor. xv. 17, 18. And for this reason it is, as I conceive, that the Lord sent an angel to remove the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre; not to supply any want of power in him who could himself have rolled away the stone with one of his fingers; but, as a judge, when the law is satisfied, sendeth an officer to open the prison door to him who hath made that satisfaction, so the Father, to testify that his justice was fully satisfied with the price which his Son had paid, sent an officer of heaven to open the doors of the grave.— REYNOLDS. He is risen, as he said. Come, see Mark xvi. 9. John xx. 14. See John xx. 17. Rom. the place where the Lord lay. When viii. 29. Heb. ii. 11. READER. The angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. The resurrection of Christ assureth us of the accomplishment of his work of mediation on earth, and that he is now in the humbled to the lowest, then nearest his exaltation, as Joseph in the prison. He could die, for he was a man, and a man for that purpose that he might die; but he could not be overcome by death, for he was God: yea, by dying, he overcame death, and so shewed himself truly the Lord of life. He strangled | head, and is mystically one life with that lion in his own den. The whale swallowed Jonah, but it could not digest him; it was forced to cast him up again at the appointed time; wherein the prophet was a figure of this great prophet Jesus Christ. He hath made a breach through death and opened up a passage on the other side of it into life. They who believe, who lay hold on him by faith, they come through with him, follow him out at the same breach, pass through death into heaven. But the rest find not the passage out; it is as the Red Sea, passable only to the Israelites; therefore they must of necessity sink quite downwards through the grave into hell, through the first death into the second, and that is the most terrible of all. That death is indeed what one called the other, 'the most terrible of all terribles, the king of terrors' as it is in Job. Now, the only assurance of that happy second resurrection to the life of glory hereafter, is the first resurrection here to the life of grace. For the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to the believer the evidence of his resurrection completed, that all was paid by Christ as his surety, and so he set at liberty, Rom. viii. 33. Nor is it only the pattern and pledge of a believer's resurrection, but it is the efficient cause both of that last resurrection of his body to glory, and of the first, of his soul to grace. The life of a believer is derived and flows forth from Christ as his his; and, therefore, as himself expresses it, "Because I live, ye shall live also," John xiv. 19. Therefore is he called the "first begotten from the dead, and the beginning," Col. i. 18. He is first in all; and from him spring all those streams that "make glad the city of God." Therefore the Apostle, in his thanksgiving for our new life and lively hopes, 1 Peter i. 3, leaves not out that "Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;" that is the conduit of all. And he expresses it in the same place, that we are "begotten again to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead." But alas! we prejudge ourselves of all the rich comfort that is wrapped up in this, by living to ourselves and our lusts, and to the world, having not our consciences purified from dead works. How few of us are there who set that ambition of Paul before us, desiring above all things to "know him, and the power of his resurrection, to be made conformable unto his death." Phil. iii. 10. That is the knowledge, as he there expresses it, a lively experienced knowledge, of that power. This rightly considered will answer all doubt and fears in the church's hardest times. When in its deliverance there appears nothing but impossibilities, when so low that its enemies are persuaded to conclude that it shall never rise again, and its friends are oppressed with fearing so much, yet he who brought his own Son Jesus from the dead, can and will restore his Thus the church expresses her confidence, Hos. vi. 2, "In the third day he will raise us up." Whatsoever it suffers, it shall gain by it; and be more beautiful and glorious in its restoration.-LEIGH TON. behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.—O holy and eternal Jesus, who hast overcome death, and triumphed over all the powers of hell, darkness, sin and the grave; manifesting the truth of thy promises, the power of thy divinity, the majesty of thy person, the rewards of thy glory, and the mercies and excellent designs of thy evangelical kingdom, by thy glorious and powerful resurrection; preserve my soul from eternal death, and make me to rise from the death of sin, and to live the life of grace; loving thy perfections, adoring thy mercy, pursuing the interests of thy kingdom, being united to the church under thee our head; conforming to thy holy laws, established in faith; entertained and confirmed with a modest, humble, and certain hope, and sanctified by charity; that I, engraving thee in my heart, and submitting to thee in my spirit, and imitating thee in thy glorious example, may be partaker of thy resurrection; which is my hope and my desire, the support of my faith, the object of my joy, and the strength of my confidence. In thee, holy Jesus, do I trust; I confess thy faith, I believe all that thou hast taught, I desire to perform all thy injunctions, and my own undertaking. My soul is in thy hand; do thou support and guide it, and pity my infirmities; and when thou shalt reveal thy great day, shew to me the mercies and effects of thy advocation, and intercession, and And as they went to tell his disciples, redemption. "Thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God; for in thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded." Thou art just; thou art merciful; thou art gracious and compassionate; thou hast done miracles and prodigies of favour, to me, and to all the world. Let not those great actions and sufferings be ineffectual, but make me capable and receptive of thy mercies; and then I am certain to receive them. I am thine, O save me! Thou art mine, O holy Jesus! O dwell with me for ever, and let me dwell with thee, adoring and praising the eternal glories of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.TAYLOR. HYMN I. Christ, the Lord, is risen to-day, Which join'd in council to restore And save our ruin'd race. Our Father ate forbidden fruit, And we his children, thus were brought Blest be the Lord, who sent his Son, To make our peace with God. He honour'd all his Father's laws Behold him rising from the grave! There on a glorious throne he reigns, Of Satan and of sin. Thence shall the Lord to judgment come, While waking saints rejoice. Oh, may we then with joy appear Before the Judge's face; And with the blest assembly there, Sing his redeeming grace! WATTS. CHAP. XXVIII. 11-17. The high priests give the people money to say that Christ was stolen out of his sepulchre. Christ appeareth to his disciples. 11 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed |