issue, like Christ's, in a life of endless happiness and glory.
The last use of his Resurrection which I propose to mention, is, that we should make it the ground of our hope. Our salvation is most generally ascribed to the death of Christ ; but sometimes also to his Resurrec- tion : and when St. Paul mentions them as joint grounds of our hope, he seems to lay the greater stress upon his Resurrection ; " Who is he that con- demneth? it is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again." Nor is this without reason ; for, by means of his Resurrection, he is enabled to execute his priestly office. The High Priest under the law was not only to slay the sacrifice, but to carry its blood within the vail, to sprinkle it before the mercy-seat, and to cover the mercy-seat with a cloud of incense : and this, as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews informs us, Jesus is now doing : he has offered himself a sacrifice for our sins, and now he is entered into the highest heavens with his own blood, and ever liveth to make interces- sion for us. By his Resurrection also, we are assured, that God has accepted his sacrifice on our behalf : for if it had not been accepted in this view, Christ must have deceived his followers, and God must have countenanced that deception, by giving the author of it such a signal testimony of his approbation : and as God would not have done this, we may look to him now with confidence as a reconciled Father : and we are fully warranted to do so, because St. Peter has said, that " God raised up Jesus from the dead, and gave him glory, that our faith and hope might be in God." We are further assured by the Resurrection of Christ, that he has all power committed to him in heaven and in earth, and is able to save to the utter- most all that come unto God by him: and therefore St. Peter says again, that " we are begotten to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." But that particular consideration, which above all renders the Resurrection of Christ a ground of hope, is, that he rose, as he died, not in a private capacity, but as the Head and Representative of all his
1591.] Christ's resurrection. 177
people ; on which account we are said to be " risen in him/' and to be now " sitting with him in heavenly places." However therefore the members of his mys- tical body upon earth may be still contending with the enemies of their salvation, they may rejoice in an assured expectation of victory through Christ their Head: they may already triumph in the thought, that the guilt of their sin is expiated ; that God is recon- ciled; that the hosts of hell are vanquished; that heaven is opened; that grace is promised; and that glory is reserved for them at their departure hence. Who then would not hope in this exalted Saviour, especially when we are so expressly told that he rose again for our justification ?
Seeing then that his Resurrection enables him to execute his priestly office ; seeing it assures us that his sacrifice is accepted for us ; seeing it is the means of his being invested with almighty power ; and seeing that by means of it his whole mystical body is risen and exalted with him, happy shall we be, if He be our hope and our confidence : but if He be not, we must be entirely hopeless and undone for ever ; for there neither is nor can be any other ground of hope : we may have the faith of Abraham, the repentance of David, the self-denial of John the Baptist, the know- ledge of the Apostles, and the fidelity of Stephen ; yet all in vain ; if Christ be not risen, all this will profit us nothing; we must inevitably perish notwithstanding all ; for thus says the Apostle, in a fore-cited passage, " If Christ be not risen, ye are yet in your sins ; then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished:" so that Abraham, David, John the Baptist, the first martyr, Stephen, yea and all the Apostles, are perished, if Christ be not risen. If then these words of St. Paul be true, we see the pernicious tendency of their doctrines who would persuade us to renounce our dependence upon Christ, and to rely on our own works as the ground of our hope. What ! are we better than those saints of old ? Or would it avail us any thing if we were ? No : we might be possessed of every virtue that ever adorned a human being, and