CHAPTER V.

The proofs of the resurrection and ascension of Christ stated. The objections of the author of the New Trial &c. set aside.

THE resurrection and ascension of Christ being highly incredible in themselves, Jesus, if they were true, must have provided facts that rendered them convincing, first to those who were witnesses of them, and afterwards to all such as might bring them to the test of inquiry in distant ages and countries. Objections, he knew, would at all times be urged against them by the honest inquirer after truth, as well as by the cold uncandid sceptic; and the wisdom of heaven suggested to him the wisest means to meet or remove them. It would have been a consideration of great weight on the side of scepticism, if our Lord had been taken, tried, and put to death by surprise and against his will. But in order to render his sufferings, his death and resurrection credible at all times and all places, our Lord, as having distinctly foreseen, minutely foretold them to his astonished disciples; manifesting by that means that he was inspired by the wisdom of God; and that he was actuated by no interested and sinister motive, but that he came up to Jerusalem and surrendered himself to his enemies, in conformity to the will of his Almighty Father, and to his own fixed purpose.

These predictions, it should further be observed, being in the early part of his ministry no more than indirect hints, he rendered more definite and intelligible, as the events to which they referred drew near. Being familiar to his thoughts, though yet in futurity, they were brought to his mind by external objects, in the same manner as,

agreeably to the great law of association, past events are recalled in ordinary minds. He moreover predicted his death, and the circumstances of it, on such memorable occasions as could not fail to bring them to the remembrance of his disciples, as soon as they were fulfilled. To feel the force and truth of these assertions, I must illustrate them by a few examples.

At first, Jesus only hints at the sufferings that awaited him, as they were brought to his mind by the appearance and language of those around him. Thus Luke writes, iv. 23, "Ye will tell me this parable, Physician, by all means heal thyself." The Evangelist considered this saying as having an immediate reference to the request which the Jews made to our Lord, to do such things in his own country, as they heard he had performed in Capernaum; but the use of epaite, ye will say, in the future tense, demonstrates that he at the same time alluded to some saying that was yet future; and if we turn our eyes to chap. xxiii. 37, we shall find the very words addressed to him by his enemies which he here anticipates, "And they mocked him, saying, If thou be King of the Jews, save thyself." Near the close of his ministry, or, according to the arrangement of John, near the commencement of it, Jesus foretold his destruction by the Jews, and his subsequent restoration to life, in terms suggested by the sight of the temple, which terms, as implying the demolition of that temple when literally taken, became deeply rooted in the memories of those present, in consequence of the astonishment which they excited, and of the offence which they occasioned. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John ii. 20. John is the only one who has recorded this incident; yet that Jesus did actually deliver these words before they were accomplished in his sufferings and resurrection, we have the indirect but sure testimony of his enemies, recorded by Matthew; "And those who passed by blasphemed him, shaking their heads and say

ing, Thou who destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself."

The menacing aspect of his enemies never failed to bring to his mind the event that awaited him at their hands. "But no sign shall be given, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so the Son of Man shall be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights." Matt. xii. 39. In chap. ix. 14, we further read, "Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, while thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said to them, Can the sons of the bridegroom mourn, while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom shall be conveyed from them, then shall they fast." Here is a clear intimation of the violence with which he should be torn from his disciples, and of the grief that in consequence would overtake them. The following little incident shows how apt the painful scenes before him were to recur to his thoughts, and how habitual it was in him to dwell upon them: "Jesus, answering, said to her, Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things to eat one thing only is needful, Mary hath chosen the good part that will not be taken from her." Luke xi. 41. The part which Martha chose, namely, attendance on his person, and providing for his wants, was, it seems, soon to be taken from her. He was now going to Jerusalem to suffer, and the hand of violence would not again permit him to return under their hospitable roof. He not only foresaw that he was to be crucified, but had even a distinct foresight of the distressing incident, that he was to carry his own cross to the place of execution; and on this foresight is grounded the admonition which he repeatedly delivered to his followers; "Whosoever does not take up his own cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me." Matt. x. 38.

In his interview with Nicodemus, our Lord hints at

the cruel death that he was to undergo; "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so it is necessary that the Son of Man should be lifted up." John iii. 14. This hint is again repeated at a more advanced period of his ministry; "Now is the crisis of this world; soon will the prince of this world be cast out, and I, though I shall be lifted up from the ground, shall draw all men to me." John xii. 32. Here he also anticipates the conversion of multitudes to him after the decisive proof of his death and resurrection. However, when he had finished his ministry in Galilee, and was now going for the last time to Jerusalem, he thought fit in direct terms to place before his astonished and afflicted disciples the leading circumstances of the fate that awaited him. "From that time Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests, and to be slain, and on the third day to be raised." Matt. xvi. 21.

But our Saviour not only foresaw and predicted his death, but embodied that prediction with facts which would remain monuments of his having foreseen and predicted it. The ordinance called the Lord's Supper, which his followers celebrate in commemoration of his death, he instituted before his death, and in the imme. diate prospect of it. Moreover, by his agony in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus evinced that he had a distinct anticipation of the fatal catastrophe, with the will and resolution to brave it, however revolting to human nature. From the dark cloud which was then ready to envelop our blessed Lord, the divine illumination that guided him flashes forth with the most convincing lustre. Notwithstanding his own repeated declarations, the disciples cherished the hope that his deliverance from death would be effected either by his own discretionary power, or by the interposition of his almighty Father. At this mistaken notion he appears to glance in the following

clause, by which he insinuates that his sufferings would terminate in nothing short of death; "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Matt. xxvi. 38.

2. The credibility of our Lord's death and resurrection, required that those events should, as being contrary to the prepossessions, be very remote from the expectations of the disciples. But how was it possible for them not to expect, if they were forewarned of these things? Labouring under the common prejudices of the Jews, they never could be induced to think that the Almighty should suffer his beloved Son to undergo a cruel and disgraceful death. When, therefore, their Master forewarned them that he was to suffer and to rise again, they construed his words in a figurative sense. Jesus, doubtless, perceived their error, but he wisely refrained from dissipating it, till the events foretold took place. By his prudence in this respect he precluded many serious objections that might have otherwise been made to the fact of his resurrection, and placed its evidence on the firmest foundation. As the disciples were ignorant of that event till it was actually realised, they could not reasonably be suspected of collusion with their Master, or of having stolen his body from the grave. Moreover, in as much as the resurrection of Jesus was a fact, which they by no means expected, but which was directly opposite to their previous conceptions, it cannot be said that they believed it on cursory and superficial evidence. On the contrary, as they had now given up the hope that he was the person that should redeem Israel, nothing less than the repeated assurance of all their senses was sufficient to force upon their minds the full conviction of its truth. Finally, as the belief that Jesus was the Messiah, which had been wrought by his previous miracles, was now done away by his crucifixion; the miracle of his resurrection, which is the grand basis of the Christian faith, had, by the wisdom of our Lord in not recti