them undertook or intended to describe all the occasions or all the instances in which Christ was seen. Christ appeared on various occasions; and one history relates what passed upon one occasion, and another what passed upon a different occasion. This produces, as might be expected, considerable variation in the accounts, yet without contradiction or inconsistency. "He was

seen of Cephas, then of the twelve." This exactly agrees with Luke's narrative: "Then the eleven were gathered together, saying the Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon." After this, Saint Paul tells us, "he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once." This number is not specified in any of the Gospels; nevertheless, there is nothing to hinder us from supposing this number might be present at some of the appearances recorded in these Gospels. It is generally supposed to have been at his solemn predicted appearance upon the mountain in Galilee. One circumstance is common to all the different accounts of the resurrection; namely, that he appeared to none but his disciples and however the unbelieving Jews might cavil at this circumstance at the time, I think the fair and explicit mention of it is to us at this day a strong confirmation of the truth of the history. It manifests the candour and exactness of the historians. Had they thought themselves at liberty to carve and mould the account, so as to make it pass most plausible and current with the public; had they not conceived of themselves as relating the truth, they could as easily have stated of Christ, that he was seen indiscriminately by all, as have confessed, (which they have done), that his appearance was confined to his own followers. We may not at this time know the exact reasons which determined our blessed Lord to make the distinction. It is enough

1

to know that Peter and James, and the eleven apostles, and the Galilean women, and the five hundred brethren, were abundantly sufficient to testify a fact in which they could not be mistaken. 94 bootsela

Having observed thus much upon the terms in which Saint Paul delivers his testimony to the resurrection of Christ, it remains in the next place to consider the authority and weights of the testimony itself. Here then, we see a man of learning and education; amongst the first of his countrymen in activity, eloquence, and ability; hardly equalled by any other, as appears, not by any commendations bestowed upon him by those of his own persuasion, but from his writings, which are now in our hands we have this man, after being distinguished in the early part of his life by his fierces and eager persecution of the Christian name, now spending his whole time in travelling from country to country, from city to city throughout the most civilized and populous region of the world, to announce whereever he came this important intelligence; that Jesus Christ, a man sent by God into the world for the instruction and salvation of mankind, after having been executed by the Jews as a malefactor, was publicly raised from the dead; that he himself had seen him after his resurrection; that many others whom he names, to whom he appeals, and with whom he conversed and associated, had done the same: that in consequence of this stupendous event, they were each one. to look for his own resurrection at the last day; that they were to conduct and prepare themselves accordingly. See this man in the prosecution of his purpose, enduring every hardship, encountering every danger, sacrificing his pleasures, 1 se, his safety, in order to bring men to the knowled

is fact, and, by virtue

Now

of that knowledge, to the practice of holiness. this is the question, Hath ever any falsehood been supported by testimony like this?

Falsehoods, we confess, have found their way into conversation, into tradition, into books: but is an example to be produced of a man voluntarily undertaking a life of pain, of toil, of ignominy, of incessant fatigue, of continual peril, of want, of hardship; submitting to the loss of home, of country, of friends-to stripes and stoning, to imprisonment and death; for the sake of carrying about a story of what was false, and of what, if false, he must have known to be so?«* pr What then shall we say to these things? If it be true that Christ is risen, then undoubtedly it is true that we shall live again in a new state...

Christ, we are told, "hath abolished death," yet men still die. What, then, is the change whereof we boast? Death is so different a thing, according as it is regarded as the destruction of our existence, or only as a transition to some other stage of it, that, when revelation affords us solid ground for viewing it in this latter aspect, death is said by that revelation to be abolished, to be done away, to reign-to exist→no more.› Still farther; if it be not only by the intervention of Christ that the knowledge of this is discovered to mankind, but by his power and agency that the thing itself is effected; if it be his mighty working, which is to change our vile bodies, which is to produce the great renovation that we look for; then is it more literally and strictly true, that by death he hath destroyed him that hath the power of death.

"Men (saith the epistle to the Hebrews), through the fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage" and well hey might! It held them in

VOL. VII.

constant terror; it was a fixed load upon the spirits ; it damped the satisfaction, it exasperated the miseries of life. From that bondage we are delivered. New hopes are inspired, new prospects are unfolded; the virtuous enjoyments of life we possess here-an exceeding and eternal weight of glory we expect hereafter. Are we prosperous and fortunate? Instead of beholding the period of human prosperity with perpetual dread, we have it in our power to make it the commencement of a new series of never-failing pleasures, of purer and better joys. Does the hand of adversity lie heavy upon us? we see before us a reward in heaven for patience, for submission, for trials, for sufferings; and, what is still more important, what is infinitely so-when that hour which is coming shall come, when we find the enjoyments of life slipping from under us, when we feel ourselves loosening from the world, and infirmity and decay gathering fast around us, we have then an anchor of hope, a rock of confidence, a place of refuge: we are then able to commit our souls to the custody of a faithful Creator, knowing, as Saint Paul speaks, in whom we have believed; being persuaded that he is able to keep that which we commit unto him against that day. We shall rise again : but unto what? They that have done good, to the resurrection of life; they that have done evil, to the resurrection of damnation. How tremendous is the alternative; what an event, what a prospect is this to look forward to! If all this be true; if the hour of judgement will certainly come to pass; what manner of men, as the apostle asks, ought we to be-what manner of lives ought we to lead, seeing, as he expresses it, we have such a cloud of witnesses, such a hope, such a r and revelation of the things which will befall us!

C

can ever be out of our thoughts? Is it possible that being there they can allow us to sin? He is gone up

Kigh he hath led captivity captive: he is in glory. Hear what the angels said to the astonished apostles: "In like manner as ye see him ascend up into heaven, ye shall see him come down again from heaven. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" but oh! mayest thou find us in some degree prepared, not indeed to await the severity of thy justice, but to be made objects of thy mercy: prepared by penitence and humility, by prayer, by a desire and study to learn thy will; by what is still more, the return and conversion of our hearts to thee, manifested by: a quick and constant fear of offending; by a love of thy laws, thy name, thy Scriptures, thy religion; by sincere, though interrupted, it is to be feared, and imperfect, yet by sincere endeavours to obey thy universal will.