How should these thoughts dissolve the feeling mind
To boundless love and gratitude inclin❜d!
That from his pain ensues our pleasant ease,
From his imprisonment our sweet release;
That from his curse a blessing we receive,

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And that his stripes our healthy strength will give!
From his defeat and bitter agony

Comes our triumphant shout of victory;
Our heav'nly diadem of bright renown,
Of piercing thorns from his afflictive crown.
My mighty Master, and my Saviour blest,
Worthy in dearest love to be addrest!
O for a seraph's voice, a seraph's fire,
For all that heav'n propitious could inspire!
To the sublimest notes my harp to raise,
And sing thy glories with becoming praise!

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he, however exalted and glorious his rank may be, is yet inferior to the Almighty himself. See St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, chap. iii. verse 9Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. i. verses 1 and 2.--To the Corinthians, 1 Epistle, chap. xv. verse 28.--To the Colos. sians, chap. i. verse 15, &c.

It is well observed by Bishop Pearson on the Creed, "We must not, therefore, so far endeavour to involve ourselves in the darkness of this mystery, as to deny that glory which is clearly due unto the Father; whose pre-eminence undeniably consisteth in this, that he is God, not of any other but of himself. It is no diminution to the Son to say he is from another, for his very name imports as much; but it were a diminution to the Father to speak so of Him: and there must be some pre eminence where there is place for derogation. What the Father is, he is from none; what the Son is, he is from Him: what the first is, he giveth; what the second is, he receiveth. The first is a Father indeed by reason of his Son, but he is not God by reason of him; whereas the Son is not only so in regard of the Father, but also God by reason of the same. Pater de nullo Patre, Filius de Deo Patre; St. Augustine says." See Pearson on the Creed, page 35.

BOOK THE SIXTH.

THE ARGUMENT.

WHEN Christ was known to be dead, the Centurion, who, upon seeing the miraculous events attendant upon his crucifixion, confessed that he was truly the Son of God, made, according to the custom used with criminals, an official report of his

death to the Roman governor--The wealthy Joseph of Arimathea requests his body of Pilate, and lays it in a new tomb, which he had made out of the rock--An angel from heaven alone rolls back the immense stone, which was put before the door of the sepulchre when the door was sealed-An earthquake attends the resurrection of Christ--The soldiers who were placed as a guard upon the sepulchre are affrighted, and run away-The resurrection of Christ compared in majesty to the giving of the ten commandments by the Almighty on Mount Sinai-Mary Magdalene, and afterwards others, go to the sepulchre-Christ appears to her, und commands her to tell his brethren that he has risen from the grave--As two disciples are travelling to Emmaus, Christ in an unknown form appears to them, and explains, while their hearts burn within them, how the prophets foretold that the Messiah should suffer-They press him to take meat with them--He is known again when breaking bread, und instantly retires from their sight-At evening, when the disciples are assembled in Jerusalem with closed doors, through fear of the Jews, Christ suddenly appears in the midst of them-Gives them his peace, and tells them to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Ghost should be fully sent from Heaven upon all of them-Appears to some of his disciples when they had in vain toiled through the night, and gives them a miraculous draught of fishes--Foretels. the crucifixion of Peter and the milder lot of John-At length, after numerous appearances to his disciples and others, he ascends to heaven in their sightTwo angels in white appear, and foretel his return in the same manner-Triumphant expressions upon Christ's uscension.

THE death of Christ officially giv'n forth,

By that centurion who confess'd his worth,
Who, when he felt the earthquake, saw the night
Which came before the nat'ral loss of light,
Said, what th' enlighten'd world at length shall own, 5
"Truly this suff'rer was of God the Son;"
The Roman governor then gave the word,
To yield the body of his martyr'd Lord
To that disciple, who, afraid of light,
Came to his Master in the shade of night;
For he was timid through the love of wealth,

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Which made him join the righteous cause by stealth;
Who decently the sacred body laid

In a new tomb he from the rock had made.
But now the priests and Pharisees combin'd
Thought, with superior subtlety of mind,
The frauds of his disciples to expose,

And seal'd the tomb, with care delib'rate, close;

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And plac'd, by Pilate's leave, a watch prepar'd
'Gainst all attempts the sepulchre to guard;
When they, by their united strength, the door
Had plac'd a stone of size immense before.
But a great earthquake shook the place around,
Making men tremble with the restless ground:
The potent angel of the Lord alone

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Roll'd back, and sat in beauteous terror on the stone;
His face like lightning's vivid flash did shew,
White was his raiment like the drifted snow.
The soldiers, at the new tremendous sight,
Shook, and became like dead men with affright.
Thus when in Sinai was declar'd the word,
An earthquake went before the living Lord;
When from the field of Edom God march'd forth,
The heav'ns dropp'd water, and dissolv'd the earth;
E'en Sinai melted at Jehovah's face,

While awful lightnings shook the frighten'd place,
So from the field of death, the horrid grave,
Ordain'd the wretched race of men to save,
Christ in becoming majesty effulg'd,
And to the world his mighty pow'r divulg'd

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O tyrant Death! O where is now thy pow'r? For thou wast slain in this propitious hour! We now through Christ, omnipotent to save, We now can look with triumph on the grave. For though by Adam sin and death were known, 45 Yet by great Christ, the Plant of bright renown, Were truth, and life, and resurrection giv❜n,

And all the everlasting joys of heav'n.

The body, sown in weakness, is at length

Rais'd up, and freshen'd with immortal strength; 50
In foul corruption it is made to lie,

In incorruption it is rais'd on high;
In vile dishonour in its native ground
Is plac'd, but glorious in the skies is found.
With Christ the bodies of the saints arose,

And in Jerusalem again to those

Whom love or former friendship had endear'd,
In love, which never can be quench'd, appear'd.

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Thus unto all who merit, shall be giv'n
To meet again in rapt'rous love in heav'n.
In death or absence, much the human heart
Feels from a friend or relative to part.
The Christian faith, however, gives relief
To this severe and penetrating grief.

Converted Mary, once of vicious fame,
That bore from Magdala her second name;
That loved much, where much had been forgiv'n,
Which those should imitate to gen'rous heav'n,
Who, made regenerate in succeeding times,
Gain absolution for their youthful crimes,
(Like her who once a costly ointment spread
Upon her gen'rous Saviour's rev'rend head;
And full of blest affection, when at meat,

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Who wip'd, and threw some spikenard on his feet; 74
Wip'd with those locks which fondly were admir'd,
When her wild breast to lawless love was fir'd,)
From ardent passions always quick to feel,
Ran to the sepulchre with eager zeal;
Whom others follow'd, with a faithful mind,
To their dear Lord, in life, in death, inclin'd;
And when she found no Master lov'd was there,
She then gave vent to many a tender tear.
But Christ at last, to her supreme delight,
Plainly reveal'd himself unto her sight;
And bade her tell his brethren he had shewn
Himself alive, and once again was known.

As two disciples unto Emmaus went,
They held discourse on many a late event;
And as they argu'd, in a new disguise
Their Master drew the notice of their eyes.
They, when requir'd of what they spoke, replied,
They spoke of Jesus lately crucified;

A mighty prophet, as they fondly deem'd,
Who should deserted Isr'el have redeem'd.
But he explain'd, while ardent they admir'd,
And at his words their honest hearts were fir'd.
O fools, these truths important not to know,
And to believe the sacred prophets slow!

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90

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For all the prophets from the first declare,

That persecuted Christ these things should bear. 100
For did not Moses awfully divulge,

That, like himself, a prophet should effulge;
And he the judgments and the wrath should know,
Who would not honour to this prophet shew?
Did not wise Daniel say, this very time,

That Christ should suffer, though without a crime,
Sinless himself, to reconcile for sin,

And everlasting righteousness bring in?

Look in the prophet's page, and then confess,

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His words most plainly these high truths express. 110
Did not great David speak of pierced feet,
Which to himself bore no resemblance meet?
For David on th' opprobrious cross ne'er died,
'Tis the Messiah that was crucified.
And did not David in a myst❜ry say,
A certain body should not know decay?
Which could not be his own, for he has died,
And in the royal sepulchre his bones abide.
But now the mystr'y known, and riddle clear,
Plain as the sun-beam to the sense appear.
For Christ arose from the descended tomb,
And did not know a common mortal doom;
The third blest day he from the grave arose,
From the seal'd tomb strict guarded by his foes.
And did not blest Isaiah largely write,
With Heav'n's own Spirit aiding to indite,

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Line 115, &c. "My glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." Psalm xvi. verse 9, &c. It was well observed by the celebrated Joseph Mede, in a discourse on "Christ's Death and Resurrection, where foretold in Scripture," "I come to the Psalms, where not only his rising again is prophesied of, but the time thereof determined; though at first sight it appears not so, namely, in that fore-alleged passage of the 16th Psalin, Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. All men shall rise again, but their bodies must first return to dust, and see corruption: but Messiah was to rise again before he saw corruption. If before, then the third day at farthest; for then the body naturally begins to see corruption. This may be gathered by the story of Lazarus in the Gospel; where Jesus, commanding the stone to be rolled from his grave, Martha his sister answered, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days."