ward, in consequence of his having endured the condemnatory sentence of the law, and rendered ample satisfaction to justice. Our Lord makes this the subject of his glorying, and comforts himself with the prospect of that glory which was immediately to succeed a short period of suffering. "He is near that justifieth me; "who will contend with me? Behold the Lord God "will help me; who is he that shall condemn me?"g XVI. But whether the resurrection of our Saviour be considered as the work of the Father, or of Christ himself, it affords us, in either view, an incontrovertible argument for his eternal Deity and Sonship. The unbounded efficacy of Divine power, as we have just learned from Paul, was displayed in this work; and therefore, if Christ exerted it in raising himself, it is clear that he is armed with Omnipotence, and so is the eternal and co-essential Son of the most high God, who has, equally with the Father, life in himself. XVII. The Father, too, could not raise him without openly acknowledging him as his own Son. He was accused of blasphemy, and condemned to death by the Jewish Council, on this ground, that he boldly professed himself to be the Son of God,h ❝ making him"self equal with God." When, therefore, after he had expired on the ignominious cross, and gone down to the dust of death, the Father brought him forth again from the darkness of the grave to the land of the living and the light of day, he condemned the Jewish Council, and absolved Christ. By thus raising him from the dead, he made it indisputably evident, that the Saviour's profession respecting himself was true. In every view, Is. 1. 8, 9. Mat. xxvi. 64-66. then, Christ is "declared to be the Son of God with “power - - - by the resurrection from the dead.” XVIII. With regard to the TIME of the resurrection, four things are to be noticed. 1st, That it took place in the season of Spring, at the feast of the passover, in the month Abib. This month derives its name from the new ear of corn; for in those warm climates, the fruits of the earth, necessary to human sustenance, were nearly matured in that month: and, by divine appointment, it was the first month of the sacred year. And truly the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead, brought happier times to the Church after a long and severe winter, and introduced a new year of grace, in which "the mountains brought forth peace to the people, and the little hills by 66 66 righteousness;"-so that every where there was "a "handful of corn in the earth, upon the top of the "mountains, the fruit whereof shaked like Lebanon, "and they of the city flourished like grass of the "earth."k XIX. 2dly, That it took place on the third day after his death and burial; which was the time foretold by Christ, and which, after his resurrection, was carefully noted by the Apostles, in order to demonstrate the truth of the prediction. It pleased God so to adjust the time of Christ's continuance in the sepulchre, that it might be sufficiently long to evince the reality of his death, and sufficiently short to correspond with the divine purpose respecting the preservation of his body from corruption. Of the manner in which the three days are to be computed, we have formerly spoken.* xx. 3dly, That it happened on the first day of the week. As the creation of the world and of light began on that day, so our Lord was pleased to determine that, on the same day, by his coming forth from the grave, the epoch of a new world, and of a happier age, should commence. From the earliest times of the Christian Church, that day was, therefore, held sacred, and called "the Lord's day."n XXI. 4thly, That it took place early in the morning of the first day, whilst the sun was rising, or about to rise. Thus he showed himself that "hind of the "morning," which, while the shades of night were disappearing and the day was only beginning to dawn, burst from its fetters, leaped into the open fields, and coming forth from its lurking-place, brought day out of night. For he is not only "the bright and the "morning-Star," but also "the Sun of righteousness,” who "gives light to them that sit in darkness and in "the shadow of death," to guide their feet into the way of peace. 66 XXII. As to the MANNER of the resurrection, the following circumstances demand our attention. 1st, It was accompanied by an earthquake; which indicates "the removing of those things that are shaken, as of 66 things that are made, that those things which can"not be shaken may remain." Since at the death of Christ the vail was rent, and the enmity abolished in his flesh;" and the handwriting having been blotted out on the cross, a discharge, so to speak, was given him by the Father, at his resurrection; the consequence was, that the things which were appointed to continue "until the time of reformation," were shaken, to make room for those which are perpetual and stable. Now this was symbolically signified by the shaking of the earth. 2dly, A glorious retinue of angels was present; for "When he again brought in his First-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the an"gels of God worship him."w 3dly, He left his sepulchral vestments in the tomb; to wit, "the linen clothes, "and the napkin wrapped together in a place by it"self." By this it was intimated, that our Lord stood in no need of funeral ornaments, because he was to put on immortality; and that the saints, when raised again from the dead, shall, through him, have every cause of shame done away, and, instead of garments, be adorned with celestial glory. XXIII. The leaving of the linen clothes served, also, in no inconsiderable degree, to confirm the truth of the resurrection of Christ. This argument is illustrated by Sedulius in the following lines; which, considering the age in which he flourished, are not inelegant. Speak, ruthless keeper; answer, guard profane; Whose are these clothes that in the grave remain, VOL. II. ▾ Col. ii. 14. x John xx. 5, 6, 7. w Heb. i. 6. 2 A 27. Can you suppose, the thief would long delay, Christ's stolen body, must have been removed.* And thus we come insensibly to another head of our discourse, namely, the TRUTH and CERTAINTY of our Lord's resurrection; which we are now farther to establish. XXIV. And, first, let us attend to the evidence of the fact itself; which is sufficient to overcome the incredulity even of the most pertinacious. The Jewish rulers, conscious of guilt, and full of apprehensions arising from the predictions of Christ, urged Pilate to command that the sepulchre should be secured till the third day, to prevent the removal of the body by force or fraud. Having gone themselves, they secure the sepulchre as carefully as possible, seal the stone, and set a watch. In the mean time, as it began to dawn towards the third day after his death, the earth is shaken by a great earthquake; and a celestial messenger, descending from heaven, rolls back the stone from the door of the sepulchre, and sits down upon it. His Fare, improbe Custos; Responde, scelerata cohors: si Christus, ut audes |