As for the rending in twain of' the vail, it was a notable miracle, plainly shewing that all ceremonies were now accomplished and abo- lished ; no more vails now : as also that believers have now most free access into heaven. At that very instant when the vail rent, the high-priest was officiating in the most holy place, and the vail which hid him from the rest of the people, being rent, they might freely see him about his work in the holy of holies ; a lively em- blem of our High-priest, whom now we see by faith in the heavens, there performing his intercession- work for us.
The opening of the graves, plainly shewed the design and end of Christ's going into it ; that it might not have dominion over the bodies of the saints, but being vanquished and destroyed by Christ, lets go all that are his whom he ransomed from the grave as a prey out of its paws : a specimen whereof was given in those holy ones that rose at that time and appeared to many in the holy city. Thus was the funeral of our Lord performed by men : Thus was it adorned by miracles from heaven.
Use. And now we have seen Jesus interred ; he that wears at his girdle the keys of hell and death, himself locked up in the grave. What shall I say of him whom they now laid in the grave ? shall I
460 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XXXVII,
undertake to tell you what he was, what he did, suffered, and de- served ? Alas ! the tongues of angels must pause and stammer in such a work. I may truly say, as Nazianzen said of Bazil, " No " tongue but his own can sufficiently commend and praise him." He is a sun of righteousness ; a fountain of life ; a bundle of love. Of him it might be said in that day, Here lies lovely Jesus, in whom is treasured up whatsoever an angry God can require for his satisfaction, or an empty creature for his perfection ; before him was none like him, and after shall none arise comparable to him. " If every leaf and spire of grass," (saith * one,) " nay, all the stars, sands and atoms, were so many souls and seraphim s, whose love should double in them every moment to all eternity, yet would it fall infinitely short of what is due to his worth and excellency. Suppose a creature composed of all the choice endowments that ever dwelt in the best of men since the creation of the world, in whom you find a meek Moses, a strong Sampson, a faithful Jona- than, a beautiful Absalom, a rich and wise Solomon; nay, and add to this, the understanding, strength, agility, splendour, and holiness of all the angels, it would all amount but to a dark shadow of this incomparable Jesus."
" Who ever weighed Christ in a pair of balances ?" saith another. " Who hath seen the foldings and plaits, the heights and depths of that glory that is in him ! O for such a heaven, as but to stand afar off and see, and love, and long for him, while time's thread
be cut, and this great work of creation dissolved ! O, if I could
yoke in among the throng of angels and seraphims, and now glori- fied saints, and could raise a new love-song of Christ before all the world ! I am pained with wondering at new opened treasures in Christ. If every finger, member, bone and joint, were a torch burning in the hottest fire in hell, I would they could all send out love-praises, high songs of praise for evermore, to that plant of renown, to that royal and high Prince, Jesus my Lord. But, alas !
his love swelleth in me, and finds no vent. 1 mar his praises,
nay, I know no comparison of what Christ is, and what he is worth. All the angels, and all the glorified, praise him not so much as in halves. Who can advance him, or utter all his praise ?
O, if I could praise him, I would rest content to die of love
for him. O, I would to God I could send in my praises to my in- comparable Well-beloved, or cast my love-songs of that matchless Lord Jesus over the walls, that they might light in his lap before
men and angels! But when I have spoken of him till my
head rive, I have said just nothing; I may begin again. A God- head, a Godhead, is a world's wonder ! Set ten thousand thousand
SERM. XXXVII. THE FOUNTAIN OP LIFE. 461
new-made worlds of angels and elect men, and double them in number ten thousand thousand thousand times: let their hearts and tongues be ten thousand times more agile and large than the hearts and tongues of the seraphims, that stand with six wings before him ; when they have said all for the glorifying and praising of the Lord Jesus, they have spoken little or nothing. O that I could even wear out this tongue in extolling his highness ! But it is my daily admiration, and I am confounded with his incomparable love."
Thus have his enamoured friends faintly expressed his excel- lencies ; and if they have therein done any thing, they have shewn the impossibility of his due praises.
Come and see, believing souls, look upon dead Jesus in hi* winding-sheet by faith, and say, Lo, this is he, of whom the church said, " My beloved is white and ruddy :" his ruddiness is now gone, and a death-paleness hath prevailed over all his body, but still as lovely as ever, yea, altogether lovely.
If David, lamenting the death of Saul and Jonathan, said, " Daughters of Jerusalem, weep over Saul, who clothed you in " scarlet, with other delights; who put ornaments of gold upon " your apparel;" Much rather may I say, Children gfZion, weep over Jesus, who clothed you with righteousness, and the garments of salvation.
This is he who quitted the throne of glory ; left the bosom of unspeakable delights ; came in a body of flesh, produced in per- fect holiness; brake through many and great impediments, (thy great unworthiness, the wrath of God and man,) by the strength of love to bring salvation home to thy soul. Can he that believingly con- siders this, do less than faint at the sense of that love that brought him to the dust of death, and cry out with that father, " My Lord was crucified !" But I will insist no longer upon generals ; but draw down the particulars of Christ's funeral to your use, in the following corrollaries,
Corollary 1. Was Christ buried in this manner? Then a decent and mournful funeral, where it can be had, is very laudable among Christians.
I know the souls of the saints have no concernment for their bodies, nor are they solicitous how the body is treated here ; yet there is a respect due to them, as they are the temples wherein God hath been served, and honoured by those holy souls that once dwelt in them ; as also upon the account of their relation to Christ, even when they lie by the walls ; and the glory that will be one day put upon them, when they shall be changed, and made like unto Christ's glorious body. Upon such special accounts as these* their bodies deserve an honourable treatment, as well as upon the
46£ THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XXXVII.
account of humanity, which owes this honour to the bodies of all men.