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less. St. Paul expresses himself very distinctly on this point: he says, "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable *."

Wherefore does the Apostle use such powerful expressions? Is it to teach us, that the soul is not capable of happiness, when separated from the body by death? Is it to shew us, that there is no enjoyment for our spiritual nature, when released from its prison of clay? He says not a syllable of the kind on the contrary, he very distinctly assures us in another place, that such is not the case; for he says, "But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour. Yet what I shall choose I wot not; for I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better t." Let us then devote a few moments to the attentive examination of the Apostle's meaning. As the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the foundation of all the promises of the Gospel, as they are the proofs of our own resurrection after death, our faith in these promises would be entirely vain, it would be indeed an illusion, if Christ were not raised; the great support of piety would, in this case, be broken down and destroyed, and the cause which leads to sanctifi

* 1 Cor. xv. 17, 19.

+ Phil. i. 22, 23.

cation would become altogether nugatory. But, consider the matter as it really is, and in the resurrection of Jesus we discover an unanswerable argument for the efficacy of faith, and a clear demonstration of the power of God. The hope of a blessed eternity may be considered as oil to the lamp of the Christian; it feeds the flame of true piety; and it lights the believer in his course through the vale of darkness in which, while in the flesh, he is called on to tread. Religion, we know, does not promise the enjoyment of this life to her She neither holds out the hope of worldly honours, riches, nor pleasures; but she assures them, that she has a crown of glory and everlasting treasures to give. She tells them, that in her dwellings "are pleasures for evermore *."

votaries.

We see that in this life she frequently brings on her advocates contempt, hatred, persecution, and sorrow she calls on them for patience and longsuffering, and for entire resignation to the will of the Almighty, under every dispensation. Thus we see, that the joys of the faithful believer derive their origin from the hope of a glorious eternity: they take not their rise in the things of time; they flee not away with the possessions of this life; they are from everlasting to everlasting; they began in the promises of Jehovah, and they will

*Psalm xvi. 11.

have their fruition in the fulfilment of his word in endless glory. Religion neither prevents the casualties nor the afflictions of life: but it teaches us to bear them with submission; and it leads us to a hope beyond the grave. It does not tell us, that our heavenly Father will not suffer us to be afflicted on the contrary, our Lord expressly tells his disciples, that they would be called on to endure much persecution. From this we should remember, that it is both presumptuous and unjust to weigh the uprightness or dishonesty of a man by the prosperity or adversity of his life. The sun-shine and the rain are, we know, distributed alike on the lands of the good and of the wicked. We are expressly told, that afflictions are destined to the people of Christ, to lead them to “a far more exceeding weight of glory." The believer is called not to wear his crown here, but to take up his cross and follow his crucified Master. It is then the knowledge of the promises of that God who gives us eternal life through his Son, which makes religion of infinite and incomparable value. Since Jesus was the interpreter of these glorious promises, in that he drew them from the obscurity of the Law and the Prophets, and brought life and immortality to light," it must readily be allowed that he has penetrated

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* 2 Tim. i. 10.

into the mysteries of the Mosaic dispensation; that he has extended and spiritualized the writings of the Old Testament; and consequently that the Spirit of Almighty Wisdom was manifested in him in a manner which declared him to be the Son of God. Surely this is alone sufficient to establish the Divine authority of the whole Gospel. But, let us proceed a little further.

The universal judgment is among those articles of faith which Jesus has placed before us in the brightness of Divine light. This doctrine is so clearly conformed to the wisdom of God, whose infinite plans are generally incomprehensible to our finite minds, that it cannot do other than give to religion a perfection in which we acknowledge at once the Divine excellency of its Author. Thus we are brought to confess, that, if the doctrines contained in the writings of Moses are of a character truly Divine, it is demonstrated beyond all contradiction, that the doctrines promulgated in the Gospel are also of celestial growth. If we admit that Moses has written what the reason of man could not have invented; we are compelled to allow, that Jesus has taught what the mind of man cannot sufficiently admire.

CHAPTER III.

OF THE HOLINESS OF THOSE PRECEPTS WHICH ARE CONTAINED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

WE have before admitted, that the Moral Laws of Moses were the wisest of all laws: we have proved that they were published in a Divine and wonderful manner; and we have demonstrated that the holiness which they teach fully corresponds with their celestial origin. All this I consider as having been satisfactorily established in the first part of this volume. If then we have acknowledged these three things, and if the precepts of the Gospel have increased the holiness of these Laws; if they have added to their perfection; if Divine wisdom has shone with more brightness from the commands of Christ than from those of Moses; surely it is but just to conclude, that these Laws were derived from as high and pure a source as those of the Old Testament, and that their Author and Promulgator was far above the Lawgiver of the Israelites. That the Laws of Moses were capable of improvement, the precepts of the Gospel have shewn us: but who shall be

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