a risen Saviour; whereas his life is not at all less connected with our salvation than his death.
His life is the ground and confirmation of all our hopes —
[What do we most wish to be assured of, in reference to Christ ? We wish to know that he was indeed the Son of God, and not a common man — that he ivas sent of God on purpose to redeem a ruined world — and that what he did and suffered for us has been accepted in our behalf. These are points of infinite importance, and that lie at the foundation of all our hopes. But by the resurrection of Christ they are all clearly and satis- factorily ascertained: "By that he was declared to be the Son of God with power3:" by that was the sign, which above all others he himself appealed to in proof of his divine mission, fulfilled13: and by that is the acceptance of his sacrifice made known, since the release of our Surety is an undeniable evidence that our debt is paidc.
Hence the testimony borne by the Apostles to the resur- rection of Christ, was considered as a complete and sufficient proof of every thing that they asserted respecting him."]
It is also a pledge and earnest of all our joys —
[Do we feel happiness in the thought of our being made partakers of eternal life, and in the prospect of a speedy possession of it ? Behold him risen, him ascended, him seated at the right hand of God : in what capacity enjoys he all this exaltation? As a mere individual ? No: but as the Head and Representative of all his people: in his resurrection, he is " the first-fruits," of which there remains a whole harvest to be gathered d: in his ascension, he is gone as " our Fore- runner," " to prepare a place for use:" and even enthroned as he is at the right hand of the Majesty on high, he sits not there alone ; for we, though personally on earth, are mystically " made at this very hour, to sit with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus f."
What then is his life but a pledge of ours, or rather an earnest ? since it not only assures to us a future blessedness, but is itself the very commencement of our bliss ?]
But the expression in our text intimates, that the life of Christ is not merely intimately but also insepa- rably, connected with the life of his people.
Let us proceed therefore to notice, 1 1. What security it affords them that they shall live —
a Rom. i. 4. b Matt. xii. 38, 40. c Rom. iv. 2,">.
d 1 Cor. xv. 20. e Heb. vi. 20. John xiv. 2. ' Eph. ii. 0.