3. For the resurrection of Christ proved that he is, what he claimed to be, a divine person-the Son of God.

It was the character of the Messiah predicted by the prophets, that he was to be the Lord our righteousness. As "the Lord," this messenger of the covenant was to "come to his temple." And corresponding with the predictions concerning him, and with the magnificent preparations for his coming, to which all the divine dispensations pointed from the beginning of the world, were many of the circumstances of his appearance. His incarnation by the power of the Holy Ghost; the praises of the celestial legions at his birth; the new star that proclaimed his glory in the East; the voice from heaven acknowledging him to be the beloved Son of God; the transfiguration on Mount Tabor, when the divine glory encircled him; and even the hill of Calvary, which, the scene as it was of his ignominy, became, in the convulsions of nature, in the shrouding of the lights of heaven, in the opening of the tombs, in the rending of the vail of the temple, the theatre of his glory

all these prove that Jesus Christ is more than the most exalted of men: they confirm his own actions, when in his own name, and with no derivative or dependent power, he controls nature at his will, and shows that he is nature's Maker and Lord; they confirm his own declarations, when he assumes, without hesitation, an equality with Godbefore all things-one with the Father.

Still one thing was wanting to put the seal of God himself to the divinity of Christ-his resurrection from the dead. Committed, as he undoubtedly was, to the tomb as a malefactor, and yet

triumphantly predicting his rising again, all the evidences of his divinity afforded by the illustrious circumstances of his life, by his actions, by his declarations, would have passed for nothing, had the prediction not been fulfilled. If Jesus Christ had remained in the grave after he had predicted his triumph over it, he would have been consigned to infamy among the impostors that had deluded the world. But rising from the grave, he proves that he is the Son of God with power: he announces, in that mighty voice by which he burst the barriers of the tomb," I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, the first and the last, the Almighty." "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore; and have the keys of death and hell." We further, then, rejoice,

4. Because, by his resurrection, Jesus Christ was constituted the Lord and Ruler of all things, and the Judge of the world.

"For this end," saith the apostle, "Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.' "God will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, of which he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he raised him from the dead." Partaker of the glory of the Father before the world was, as the Son of God, Jesus Christ also, before the world was, possessed universal dominion. In an incomprehensible manner, but for a purpose infinitely beneficent-our salvation from sin and death-the Son of God assumed the body that was prepared for him, united himself to our nature; and it was in this his human nature, it was as the

Son of man that his resurrection exalted him to be the Ruler and the Judge of the world. This exaltation was the consequence and the reward of his passion: "For the suffering of death," saith the apostle," Jesus is crowned with glory and honour." Having paid, by his most precious blood, our ransom to divine justice, he exercises dominion over us in right of purchase. Having achieved, by the power of his grace, our deliverance from the captivity of sin and Satan, his dominion over us is confirmed also by the right of conquest. To this dominion, the reward of his sufferings, he was visibly exalted at his resurrection. Then, in his human nature, he was set as the King on the " holy hill of Zion," not merely to exercise temporary dominion over man whom he had redeemed, but to possess a kingdom endless as eternity, and extensive as the universe. For it was the decree of the Almighty Father concerning the Son, as Mediator-" Thy throne endureth for ever and ever: thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion that which shall not be destroyed." "At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." For, "raised from the dead, he is set on the right hand of the Majesty on high, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, not only in this world, but in that which is to come; and all things are put under his feet." And "all power in heaven and earth" is thus given unto the Son of man, in order that he may protect and bless his church and people-that he may deliver them from their enemies-and finally coming as the King of kings and Lord of lords, to judge

the world, to gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, may exalt his faithful people to glory everlasting.

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad,"

5. For the event which we this day commemorate, assures us of our victory over sin, of pardon for its guilt, of deliverance from its bondage.

That man is a sinner, and that, as a sinner, he must be obnoxious to the divine displeasure, are truths for which we want no more than that testimony which experience and reason abundantly furnish; but how this divine justice is to be propitiated, and how, depraved and guilty, he is to be restored to the divine favour, are inquiries which the Almighty Lawgiver, Sovereign, and Judge, to whom man is accountable, can alone resolve; and for which, therefore, we must look to the revela-. tion of his holy word. There we behold Jesus Christ, as the representative of guilty man, sustaining the burden of sin; we behold him in the agonies of death incurring its penalties. But what assurance does that cross on which he thus suffers for our sins, afford that the atonement there making is accepted by that righteous Judge, whose holiness, and justice, and authority inflexibly demand it? The cross gives no signs of mercy: the lightnings of vengeance blaze around it. On the cross Jesus Christ expires as one forsaken by his God—as one forsaken by his God. he is committed to the tomb. It is from that tomb the voice of mercy issues"The Lord has risen." "Christ was delivered for our offences, he was raised for our justification." "It is God that justifieth, who is he that con

demneth!" "It is Christ who died, yea rather, who is risen again." "God, who hath quickened us together with Christ, hath forgiven us our trespasses." By this act of his power God testifies. his acceptance of Christ's atonement; and now the penitent sinner can listen with full faith to the assurance of mercy-" God so loved the world, as to give his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but should have everlasting life."

Nor is this a vain hope; for while the resurrection of Christ is a pledge of our pardon, it is also the pledge of grace, of that grace whereby, as he died and rose again for us, so we may die unto sin, and rise again unto righteousness, and thus be partakers of the glory of his resurrection. The greatest of victories is that which is achieved over the body of sin, that body of sin which inthrals all men, and from which the greatest strength of intellect, and the highest human power, cannot deliver those who are in bondage to it. This victory is achieved only through the power of Christ's resurrection, which, while it imposes on us the obligation to walk in newness of life with that Saviour through whom we arc risen to new principles and new hopes, inspires us with the confidence, that he who is raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, will also bless us in turning every one of us away from his iniquities, in restoring us from darkness unto light, and from the power of sin and Satan unto God. We rejoice,

6. For the resurrection of Christ assures us of victory over the world-arming us against its temptations, and supporting us under its sorrows,