[2.] The wicked are raised ex officio judicis, not heneficio mediatoris; they are raised by Christ as a judge, but not by him as a Redeemer. The one sort are raised by the power of his vindicative justice, the other by the Holy Ghost by virtue of his covenant: Eom. viii. 11, ' He shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.' The one by Christ's power from without, put forth by him as judge of dead and living ; the other by an inward quickening in- fluence that flows from him as their proper head. When the reaper gathers the wheat into his barn, the tares are bound in bundles and cast into unquenchable fire, Mat. xiii. 30.
470 CHRIST THE AUTHOR OF THE NEW CREATION. [SeR. VI,
[3.] The wicked are forced to appear, and cannot shift that dreadful tribunal, the other go joyfully forth to meet the bridegroom ; and when the sentence of condemnation shall be executed upon the one, the other by virtue of Christ's life and resurrection shall enter into the possession of a blessed and eternal life, wherein they shall enjoy God and Christ, and the company of saints and angels, and sing hallelujahs for ever and ever.
Thirdly, How is this an evidence and assurance to all good Christians of their happy and glorious resurrection?
1. The resurrection of Christ doth prove that there shall be a resurrection.
2. That to the faithful it shall be a blessed and glorious resur- rection.
1. There shall be a resurrection : it is necessary to prove that ; partly because it is the foundation of all godliness. If there were not another life after this, there were some ground for that saying of the athei.sts, ' Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die,' 2 Cor. XV. 32. If there be no future estate nor being after this life, let us enjoy the good things of the world whilst we can, for within a little while death cometh, and then there is an end of all. These atheistical discourses and temptations to sensuality were more justifiable if men were annihilated by death. No ! the soul is immortal, and the body shall rise again, and come into the judgment ; and unless we live holily, a terrible judgment it will be to us. Partly because we cannot easily believe that tlie same body shall be placed in heaven which we see committed to the grave to rot there. Of all articles of religion this is most difficultly assented unto. Now there is relief for us in this busi- ness in hand : ' Christ is the first-born from the dead.' There were many prceludia resurrectionis, foretokens and pledges of the resur- rection given to the old world, in the translation of Enoch, the rapture of Elijah, the reviving of these few dead ones which I spake of before ; but the great and public evidence that is given for the assurance of the world is Christ's rising from the grave. This makes our resur- rection : —
[1.] Possible.
[2.] Easy.
[3.] Certain and necessary.
[1.] Possible. The least that we can gather from it is this, that it is not impossible for dead men to rise ; for that which hath been may be. We have the proof and instance of it in Christ ; see how the apostle reasoneth: 1 Cor. xv. 13, ' If there be no resurrection from the dead, then Christ is not risen, and then our whole faith falleth to the ground.' For all religion is bottomed on the resurrection of Christ ; if therefore Christ be risen, why should it seem an incredible thing to us that others should be raised also ?
[2.] It is easy. For by rising from the dead he hath conquered death and gotten the victory of it, 1 Cor. xv. .57. A separation there will be of the soul from the body, but it is not such as shall last for ever. The victory over sin is the victory over death, and the conquest of sin makes death an entrance into immortality. The scriptures often speak of Christ destroying the power of death : Heb. ii. 14,
Col. I. 18.] christ the author of the new creation, 471
' That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death.' The devil's design was, by tempting men to sin, to keep them for ever under the power of death, but Christ came to rescue men from that power by a resurrection from death to life. Again it is said, * He hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light in the gospel.' He hath voided the power of death by taking a course for the destruction of sin, and made a clear revelation of that life and immortality which was not so certainly known before. We look to the natural impossibilities, how what is turned to dust may be raised again, because we do not consider the power of God ; but the moral impossibility is the greater, for 'the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law ;' that which makes sin able to do us hurt is the guilt of sin, otherwise it would be but as a calm sleep ; and this guilt is bound upon us by the law of the righteous God, which threateneth eternal death to the sinner. Now get free from sin, and it is easy to believe the conquest of death. I will prove two things — that Christ's resurrection shows both his victory over sin, and his victory over death.