[2.] By the grant of God. They have a right and title to this
Col. I. 18.] christ the author of the new creation. 473
glorious estate ; being admitted into his family, they may hereafter expect to be admitted into his presence. The Holy Spirit abideth in them as an earnest, till it be accomplished : Eph. i. 14, ' Ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our in- heritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession.' The' Spirit of lioliness marketh and distinguisheth them as heirs of promise from all others. The mark or seal is the impression of Christ's image on the soul ; this seal becomes an earnest or part of payment, which is a security or assurance to us that more will follow, a fuller conformity to Christ in the glorious estate ; and this earnest doth continue till the redemption of the purchased possession ; the purchased possession is the church, and their redemption is their final deliverance, Eph. iv. 30, when their bodies are redeemed from the bands of the grave. See Kom. viii. 28.
Use 1. Is to persuade you to the belief of two grand articles of faith — the resurrection of Christ, and your own resurrection.
1. The resurrection of Christ, The raising of Christ from the dead is the great prop and foundation of our faith : 1 Cor. xv, 14, * If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith also is vain.' All the apostles' preaching was built upon this supposition, that Christ died and rose again. Partly because this is the great evi- dence of the truth of the Christian religion ; for hereby Christ was evidenced to be what he gave out himself to be, the eternal Son of God, and the Saviour of the world, ' whereof he hath given assurance to all men, in that he raised him from the dead,' Acts xxiii. 31, that is the ground of faith and assurance. So Acts xiii. 33, ' Cod hath raised Jesus from the dead, for it is written, Thou art my Son,' &c. Partly to show that he is in a capacity to convey life to others, both spiritual and eternal ; which, if he had remained under the state of death, could not be. The life of believers is derived from the life of Christ : John xiv, 19, * Because I live,' &c. If he had been holden of death, he had neither been a fountain of grace nor glory to us : 1 Pet. i. 3, ' He hath begotten us unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead.' Partly because the raising of Christ is the pledge of God's omnipotency, which is our relief in all difficult cases ; the power which raised Christ exceedeth all contrary powers, Eph. i. 20, 21. Now the resurrection of Christ, besides the veritableness of the report manifested by the circumstances, when a great stone was rolled at the mouth of the sepulchre, a guard of soldiers set to watch against all fraud and impostures, yet he brake through ; his frequent apparitions to the apostles, yea, to five hundred disciples at once, 1 Cor. xv. 6, a great part of which were alive to testify the truth of it for some competent space of time ; his pouring out of the Spirit ; the apostles witnessing the truth of it in the teeth of opposition ; his appearing from heaven to Paul ; the prophecies of the Old Testament foretelling of it ; the miracles wrought to confirm it ; the holiness of the persons who were employed as chosen witnesses ; their unconcernedness in all temporal interests ; their hazarding of all ; their success. It would make a volume to give you the evidences.
2. Your own resurrection, what may facilitate our belief and hope of it?
474 CHRIST THE AUTHOR OF THE NEW CREATION. [SeR. VI.
[1.] Consider it is a work of omnipotency. We are apt to say, How can it be, that when our bodies are turned into dust, and that dust mingled with other dust, and hath undergone many transmutations, that every one shall have his own body and flesh again ? AVhy, consider the infinite and absolute power of God, and this will make it more reconcilable to your thoughts, and this hard point will be of easier digestion to your faith. To an infinite power there is no diflficulty at all : Phil. iii. 21, ' According to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.' He appeals to God's power, how much God's power out-works our thoughts ; for he were not infinite if he might be comprehended. We are not fit judges of the extent of his power ; many things are marvellous in our eyes which are not so to bis, Zech. viii. 6. Therefore we must not confine God to the limits of created beings or our finite understandings. Alas ! our cockleshell cannot empty an ocean : we do no more know what God can do than a worm knoweth a man. He that made the world out of nothing, cannot he raise the dead ? He that brought sucli multitudes of crea- tures out of the dark chaos, hath he forgotten what is become of our dust ? He that gave life and being to that which before was not, cannot he raise the dead ? He that turned Moses' rod into a serpent, and from a serpent into a rod again, cannot he raise us out of dust into men, and turn us from men into dust, and from the same dust raise us up into the same men and women again ?