Wherein the Resurrection of Christ, with its influences upon the Saints Resurrection, is clearly opened, and com- fortahly applied, being the first Step of his Exaltation.
He is not here ; for he is risen, as he said : come, see the place where the Lord lay.
VV E have finished the doctrine of Christ's humiliation, where- in the Sun of righteousness appeared to you, as a setting sun, gone out of sight ; but as the sun when it is gone down to us, begins a new day in another part of the world, so Christ, having finished his course, and work in this world, rises again, and that, in order to the acting another glorious part of his work in the world above. In his death, he was upon the matter totally eclipsed ; but in his resurrection, he begins to recover his light and glory again. God never intended that the darling of his soul should be lost in an obscure sepulchre. An angel descends from heaven, to roll
SERM. XXXIX. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 487
away the stone, and, with it, the reproach of his death ; and to be the heavenly herald, to proclaim his resurrection to the two Marys, whose love to Christ had, at this time, drawn them to visit the sepulchre, where they lately left him.
At this time (the Lord being newly risen) the keepers were trembling, and become as dead men. So great was the terrible majesty and awful solemnity attending Christ's resurrection ; but, to encourage these good souls, the angel prevents them with these good tidings ; " He is not here ; for he is risen, as he said : come, " see the place where the Lord lay :" q. d. Be not troubled, though you have not the end you came for, one sight more of your dear, though dead Jesus ; yet you have not lost your labour ; for, to your eternal comfort, I tell you, " he is risen, as he said." And to put it out of doubt, come hither and satisfy yourselves, " See " the place where the Lord lay.'1
In which words we have both a declaration and confirmation of the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
First, A declaration of it by the angels, both negatively and af- firmatively. Negatively, He is not here. Hero indeed you laid him, here you left him, and here you thought to find him as you left him ; but you are happily mistaken, He is not here. However, this giving them no satisfaction, so he might continue dead still, though removed to another place, as indeed they suspected he was, John xx. 13. therefore his resurrection is declared positively and affirmatively ; He is risen ; nyz^, the * word imports, the active power or self-quickening principle, by which Christ raised himself from the state of the dead. Which Luke takes notice of also, Acts i. 3. Where he saith, He shewed, or presented, himself alive after his passion. It was the divine nature, or Godhead of Christ, which revived and raised the manhood.
Secondly, Here is also a plain confirmation of Christ's resurrection, and that, first, From Christ's own prediction, He is risen, as he said. He foretold that winch I declare to be now fulfilled. Let it not therefore seem incredible to you. Secondly, by their own sight, " Come, see the place where the Lord lay." The grave hath lost its guest ; it is now empty ; death hath lost its prey. It received, but could not retain him, " Come, see the place where " the Lord lay." Thus the resurrection of Christ is declared, and confirmed. Hence our observation is,
* The argument whereby we prove that Christ raised himself by his own power, is drawn from the very activity of his resurrection: Christus 7}/Jf^> i. e. Christ arose, Matt, xxviii. 6. I7cc*szrlff£v stxvrov fyvra, Acts i. X Maccov. lou Com. p. 874.
488 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XXXIX.
Doct. That our Lord Jesus Christ, by the almighty power of Ms own Godhead, revived, and rose from the dead ; to the terror and consternation of his enemies, and the unspeakable consola- tion of believers.
That our Lord Jesus Christ, though laid, was not lost in the grave ; but the third day revived and rose again, is a truth con- firmed to us by many infallible proofs, as Luke witnesseth, Acts i. 3. We have testimonies of it, both from heaven and earth, and both infallible. From heaven, we have the testimony of an- gels, and to the testimony of an angel all credit is due ; for angels are holy creatures, and cannot deceive us. The angel tells the two Marys, in the text, " He is risen." We have testimonies of it from men, holy men, who were eye-witnesses of this truth, to whom he shewed himself alive by the space of forty days after his resurrection, by no less than * nine solemn apparitions to them. Sometimes five hundred brethren saw him at once, 1 Cor. xv. 6. These were holy persons, who durst not deceive, and who con- firmed their testimony with their blood. So that no point of re- ligion is of more confessed truth, and infallible certainty than this before us.
And blessed be God it is so. For if it were not, then were the " gospel in vain," 1 Cor. xv. 14. seeing it hangs the whole weight of our faith, hope, and salvation, upon Christ as risen from the dead *f\ If this were not so, then would the holy, and divinely in- spired apostles be fouudjalse-witnesses, 1 Cor. xv. 15. For they all, with one mouth, constantly, and to the death affirmed it. If Christ be not risen, " then are believers yet in their sins," 1 Cor. xv. 17. For our justification is truly ascribed to the resurrection of Christ, Rom. iv. 25. Whilst Christ was dying, and continued in the state of the dead, the price of our redemption was all that while but in paying, the payment was completed, when he revived and rose again. Therefore for Christ to have continued always in the state of the dead, had been never to have completely satisfied; hence the whole force and weight of our justification depends upon his resurrection. Nay, had not Christ risen, " the dead had " perished," 1 Cor. xv. 17. Even the dead who died in the faith of Christ, and of whose salvation there now remains no ground to doubt. Moreover,
* John xx. 14. Mark xvi. 12. John xx. 19. 1 Cor. xv 6, 7. 1 Cor. xv. 8. John vii. 26. John xxi. 1, 2. Luke xxiv. 56.
■f Our deliverance, was in his death, put in motion ; or, as they say, in fieri, i. e. begin ; but was finished in his resurrection, whence it is, that our justification or absolution from debts is justly by the apostle ascribed not to his death but resur- rection, &c. Maccov. loc. Cjm. p. 869.
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 489
Had he not revived and risen from the dead, how could all the types that prefigured it have been satisfied ? Surely they must have stood as insignificant things in the scriptures ; and so must all the predictions of his resurrection, by which it was so plainly foretold. See Matth. xii. 40. Luke xxiv. 46. Psal. xvi. 10. 1 Cor. xv. 4.