ISA. LIII. 8.] THE FIFTY-THIRD CHArTER OF ISAIAH. 355
Christ, and that he is our licad, and the fountain of our life ; and therefore we should live and be conformed to our head. And by such considerations the Spirit leaveth a great virtue and force upon the soul, which is called 'the power of the resurrection.' And thus I have a little opened this difficult matter to you. Take but one place more and I have done: Eom. vi. 10, 11, ' For in that he died, he died unto sin once ; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.' There are Christ's acts. Now in the next verse you shall see how the Spirit maketh the soul to share in them : ' Likewise reckon ye also your- selves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.' Dead by the death of Christ, but alive by the life of Christ. The Spirit cometh to the heart, and revealeth this to it. Lo, this is done for you in Christ, and so bringeth the soul by the same efficacy to a likeness to Christ.
Use 1. Is consolation. Here is comfort for those that have an in- terest in Christ. Believers, know the ground of your privileges. Christ is risen, and thereby declared mightily to be the Son of God. So shall you be declared mightily to be the sons of God at your resur- rection : Ps. xxxvii. 5, ' Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.' Oh, what comfort is there for their spirits in that word, ' Christ is risen.' It was the comfortable mes- sage Christ sent to Peter, when he was ready to faint under the sad- ness of his own apprehensions, ' Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is risen, and goeth before you into Galilee,' Mark xvi. 7 — Go to Peter, and tell him by name. 0 poor Peter ! he is weeping and ready to break his heart ; go and comfort him, be sure to tell him I am risen. Christians, here is comfort for the saddest believer. Among the primitive Christians their usual salutation was. The Lord is risen ; as if that were as much as wishing them all peace and grace. But how shall we do to draw out these comforts ? Ans. Act faith, which bringeth in the virtues of Christ upon the soul.
But how must we act faith in this matter of the resurrection of Christ ? It consists in reasoning and waiting. There is something you must collect by way of inference, and something you must expect by way of influence.
First, Set faith a-work, or arguing by way of inference. You must collect somewhat that you may extract the quintessence of it. As a surety, as a common person, and as a pattern of providence and church dispensations, in all these respects you may fetch comfort from Christ's resurrection. I shall a little clear these three considerations of Christ, though the two first be somewhat common among divines.
1. As a surety, and one that undertook for us ; that is clear, because Christ is called ' the surety of a better testament,' Heb. vii. 22. Now your surety is risen, then draw out the comfort thus : Surely sin is satisfied, for the debt is paid. A man is never the richer for gold in the mine till it be digged out ; no more is a man the better for comforts in the lump ; dig them out by holy reasoning. Say then, Christ, that undertook all, he is got free again ; surely then I am dis- charged, I have something to show to God. Go and urge it to the Lord — Why didst thou suffer Christ to rise again, if thou wilt charge
356 A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION UPON [ISA. LIII. 8.
poor creatures with their guilt ? And urge it to Satan too — Dost thou condemn me, and tell me what I have done, and wherein so often I have sinned ? — Why, Jesus Christ is risen. As Paul : Kom viii. 34, * Who is he tl)at condemneth ? it is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again.' Surely the whole business is accomplished by Christ. Thus dwell upon such thoughts ; only take heed you rest not in your own reasonings — look for the success of all from the Spirit. 0 Lord, didst thou not let thine only-begotten and well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ, go free, after he had been in the prison and in the grave ? Did not he undertake for us, and hast thou discharged him and not us? He is our surety, he hath paid our debt for us. Therefore reason with your souls as David reasoned with his soul : Ps. xlii. 11, ' Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me ? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.'
2. As a common person, Christ may be said to be all of us ; for as Adam, in a sense, was all mankind, so Christ had all the elect in his own person, and so represents them : so that what he did we may, in some sense, be said to have done. Thus, a burgess in parlia- ment, that represents all the town or corporation that sendeth him, his act is their act : it is grounded upon what the apostle saith, 1 Cor. XV. 22, ' As in Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive.' As Adam was a common person representing all mankind, so Christ all the elect. Therefore the apostle saith, Kom. vi. 11, ' Keckon ye also yourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.' You must do two things : —