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Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope: for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.-Psalm xvi. 9, 10.

Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD GOD might dwell among them.-Psalm lxviii. 18.

And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again.-Matt. xvii. 22, 23.

SACRED NARRATIVE.

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre, with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto

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them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren, that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Now when they were going, behold some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief-priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. So they took the money, and did as they were taught and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.-Matt. xxviii.

Jesus said, Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. And he led them out as far as to Bethany; and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.-Luke xxiv. 49-53.

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.-Acts ii. 1-4.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SACRED NARRATIVE.

Christ's crucifixion was public, at noon-day, before a great multitude. The Jews, who procured it, and the Romans, who executed it, would both take care that it was done effectually. Then, after this, we find him treated as dead, both by friends and enemies: Pilate, after a particular inquiry into that very matter, granted his body to be buried; one of his disciples embalming him with spices, another laying him in his own sepulchre; the Jews making no objection; but fully satisfied of his death, and only careful to guard against his resurrection. Notwithstanding, he was afterwards

really alive again, of which we have multiplicity of the strongest evidence. The sepulchre was newly hewn out of a rock, shut up with a very large stone rolled to the mouth of it, and guarded night and day by a band of soldiers, who were to watch till the time was over within which he had said he should rise: yet on that very day the sepulchre was found open, and the body was gone! Now by what means could this come to pass? To his disciples it could be of no possible use to carry on a deceit, by getting his corpse into their possession: for if they had succeeded so ill with their Master at their head, what could they expect by carrying on the same scheme after they had lost him, but to come to the same end?

Indeed, we find in fact, that far from being enterprising, they were so disheartened, even when he was first seized, that they all forsook him: and there was little likelihood that they should have more courage to attempt anything just after he was executed. Or if they had, what manner of chance was there, that when a band of sixty men, used to military discipline, were set to watch the grave, they should either find them all asleep at once, though it was death to be so, and not awake one of them; or be able to convey the body away from them, though they were awake? Evidently they must have failed, and probably have been seized in the attempt. Since then the body was not found, and could not by any human means, or indeed for any rational purpose, have been carried away, it must have been raised by the power of God, as it is related in the gospels.

Jesus, to give full and sensible demonstration of his resurrection, "showed himself alive to his disciples, after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days."-Acts i. 3. They could not have been mistaken as they had almost despaired of his rising again, they were not willing to believe it on any other testimony than that of their own eyes and ears Thomas even not without touching him, and putting his hands on the marks of his wounds: which the rest as well as he, when they were “terrified, and supposed they had seen a spirit," and not their Lord, were invited to do. "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Luke xxiv. 37-39. John xx. 27.

This proof of our Saviour's resurrection is sufficient. He was in no way bound to appear to the rulers and the whole people of the Jews: nor does God, in any case, give men just such evidence as they please; but such as is enough for honest minds: and if others will not believe without more, they must take the consequence. Christ appeared to the twelve apostles often; to five hundred persons at once besides. If this number be thought too small, when was ever the tenth part of it required in any other matter? And if Christ was to appear to all the Jews, why not to all the Gentiles? This would have made strange confusion; and had the whole nation been convinced, their notions of the Messiah's temporal kingdom would probably have thrown them at the same time into a rebellion against the Romans; and then the gospel would have been thought a mere political artifice. Nay, had they continued quiet, and the Romans let them alone, even then we should have lost that evidence of the truth of our religion which arises

from the persecutions undergone by the first teachers of it: from the very advantageous circumstances, that the Jews, our adversaries, have been the keepers of those prophecies which prove Christ to be come; and also from their wonderful dispersion and preservation: besides the proof which will arise, in God's good time, from their conversion to Christianity.

Christ is justly said by the apostle to be "declared the Son of God, with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Rom. i. 4. But there are two things proved by it more particularly: First, that his sufferings are accepted by the Father as a full atonement for the sins of men: Secondly, from our Saviour's resurrection appears the certainty of our own. Since Christ is risen, our resurrection is possible; and since Christ hath promised, it is certain. "If then we believe that Jesus died, and rose again," we must believe too, as the apostle justly argues, that "them also, which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; and they, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the Lord."-Thess. iv. 14. 16, 17. ARCHBISHOP SECKER.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was very God and very man. As man he suffered death for us: but as naturally God, he loosed the bands and pains of hell, destroyed the kingdom of death, rose from death to life, and so paid the ransom for our sins, and took away all the guiltiness of the same. And when our Saviour, Jesus Christ, had thus satisfied for our sin, and so overcome death and hell, then, like a valiant conqueror, he ascended into heaven, where God, his Father, received him with a most gracious triumph, and placed him on his right hand, and made him Lord over all creatures. And this is our most high and everlasting comfort, that Jesus Christ is our Lord, and we his servants: and although we die, yet he will raise us up again, because he hath overcome and conquered death. After that our Lord Jesus Christ, by his death, passion, and resurrection, had redeemed us, and obtained for us that our sins should be forgiven, and we be made the children of God; shortly after, in the feast of Pentecost, he sent down upon his apostles the Holy Ghost, in the likeness of fiery tongues: the which Holy Ghost gave them wisdom, skill, courage, and constancy, to teach boldly this holy gospel of Christ. ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.

The disbelief of the apostles is the means of furnishing us with a full and satisfactory demonstration of the resurrection of our Lord. Throughout the Divine dispensations, every doctrine and every important truth is gradually revealed; and here we have a conspicuous instance of this progressive system. An angel first declares the glorious event. The empty sepulchre confirms the women's report. Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene showed that he was alive; that to the disciples at Emmaus proved that it was at least the spirit of Christ; that to the eleven showed the reality of his body; and the conviction given to Thomas proved it the

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