place where Jesus was crucified, he deposited the body there : and, for the sake of decency and security, rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre.
Such is the account given us of the burial of our Lord : and at first sight perhaps it may appear, if not uninteresting, at least destitute of any important instruction. But we shall not be of this opinion, if we duly weigh, as we propose to do,]
II. The practical benefits resulting from it —
There is not a single circumstance in this account which is not very important ; and the whole taken together is of singular use, 1. To establish our faith — [Two things are necessary to be ascertained, before we can have just grounds for our faith in Christ ; namely, first, the truth of the facts recorded concerning him ; and next, the agreement of those facts loith the prophecies of the Old Testa- ment. Now the main facts to be ascertained, are, the death and the resurrection of Jesus : for, if he did not die, he has made no atonement for our sins ; and, if he did not rise again, we have no evidence that his atonement has been accepted in our behalf. But behold how these facts are contained in the history before us ! Pilate had doubts respecting the death of Jesus ; and would not consent to Joseph's request, till the point was ascertained from the very person whom he had appointed to superintend the execution. Had there been a spark of life in the body, the enemies of Jesus would not have given it into the possession of his friends ; nor would his friends have con- signed it to the tomb. His death therefore was proved beyond a doubt ; nor was the truth of his resurrection less clearly manifested : for the tomb was new ; and we are repeatedly told, that no corpse had ever yet been laid in it. Had there been any other corpse there, the resurrection of Jesus might have been ascribed to that ; as the restoration of a dead body to life was effected by its being brought in contact with the bones of the Prophet Elishaf : or it might have been affirmed, that it was the other corpse, and not that of Jesus, that re- vived. But, when there never had been any other corpse deposited there, the resurrection of Jesus could not be con- founded with that of any other person ; nor could it be ascribed to any other power than his own. Moreover, the sepulchre being hewn out of a solid rock, was inaccessible, except at that entrance which was stopped by the stone, and guarded by the band of soldiers : had it been accessible in any other way, there might have been some plausibility in the story that the corpse
f 2 Kings xiii. 21.