not by sight : he lives upon a Saviour whom he has never seen with his bodily eyes, and receives a supply of every want out of his fulness. By faith we view- Jesus as a surety: we consider him as having dis- charged our debt : this is the ground on which we hope that our sins shall never be put to our account. We believe what the Scripture says, that " it was exacted of him and he was made answerable ;" and that his death was a sufficient compensation for the debt which we had incurred. But what proof have we that he has paid the debt, if he be not risen ? We may suppose that he undertook to pay it ; and that he laid down his life in order to pay it ; but this will by no means prove that he has fully satisfied the demands of law and justice. If a man that has be- come our surety remain in prison, it is a sign that he has not made good the payment which he had taken upon himself; but if he be set free, we then conclude that the creditors have been satisfied. So, if Christ had yet been confined in the prison of the grave, we might have concluded that the debt was yet unpaid ; and consequently, our faith in him as our surety would have been vain and delusive : for, notwith- standing all which Jesus might have done for us, there would yet have remained some part of the debt to be discharged by us, and we must therefore have despaired of ever obtaining happiness in the eternal world.
Again : By faith we view Jesus as an Advocate. We are still offending daily in many things ; so that, notwithstanding we have been reconciled to God, we should soon provoke him to withdraw his mercy from us, and to shut up his loving-kindness in displeasure. But the Scripture says, that, " if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." By faith, we look to him to intercede for us ; to plead our cause ; and to maintain our peace with God. But what ground have we for such' a hope if Christ be not risen ? Instead of being in heaven to plead our cause, he still lies in the bowels of the earth : instead of living to promote our in- terests, he is no better than a senseless and inanimate
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corpse. How vain therefore must be our expecta- tions, when we indulge the thought of his prevaihng intercessions ! We are but buoying up ourselves with groundless hopes, and weaving a web which shall soon be swept away by the besom of destruction.
Once more : — By faith we view Jesus as a Head of all vital influences. The Scripture speaks of him as the vine, and us as the branches ; and represents him as " Head over all things to the Church." We look therefore to him that we may receive out of his ful- ness : we expect grace and peace from him to be communicated to us in the hour of need : we con- sider ourselves as withered branches, when separated from him, and as no longer having a capacity to bring forth any fruit than while we are united to him, and derive sap and nourishment from him. But what a delusion must this be, if Christ be not risen ! If he be not risen, he is still dead : and how can that which is destitute of life impart life to us ? What can we possibly receive from him if he be still impri- soned in the grave ? We see, then, that whether we regard him as our Surety, our Advocate, or our Head, our faith is vain if he be not risen ; yea, we are left under the most deplorable error and delusion that ever engrossed the mind of man.