Imatges de pàgina
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wonderful and excellent for us, we cannot attain unto it. Yet, relying upon the word of truth, we doubt not that so it shall be. Confident in him, who has revealed his word, and confirmed it by his resurrection, "we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body; according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."

III. But there is a doctrine, still more awful, intimately connected with the events which we this day celebrate, and with the general resurrection. Mankind will not be raised from their graves, merely in order to resume a life, to which the condition of immortality will be attached: but "that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." h Such was the conclusion which the Apostle drew from the fact of the resurrection of Christ. God hath appointed a

day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained: whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." i

$ Phil. iii. 20, 21.
Acts xvii. 31.

h2 Cor. v. 10.

The awful circumstances of the judgment to come, and the exceedingly fearful consequences to every soul of man, whose state for all eternity shall then be finally determined, are so fully displayed in the New Testament, are so closely connected with all the facts and doctrines of the Gospel, that no one can, with any shew of consistency, assent to the one, and deny the other. Yet, how many of those, who declare their full belief in the Scriptures, live in a practical disregard of the judgment to come. Did men actually feel the assurance which they express: did they consider with their heart, as they confess with their lips, that in the dispensations of the Almighty, as declared in his word, the future is as sure as the past; they would surely consider their ways, and return, and live.

Every man, who weighs well the proofs which establish the historical fact, will acknowledge that "the Lord is risen indeed." Every man, who has learned to value the Scriptures, so authenticated, and to rely upon them, as containing the words of infallible truth, will confess that "God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world." How is it then, that so few of those, who profess the faith of Christ, live under the continual conviction, that there

k Luke xxiv. 34.

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1 Acts xvii. 31.

is coming that great and terrible day of the Lord? If Christianity be true, it is true in all its parts. The resurrection of Christ is an undoubted fact, which rests upon testimony. The coming of Christ to judgment is another undoubted fact, which rests upon the authority of his holy word. Let no Christian, then, however young and thoughtless, fall into that deadly error of supposing, that he may, with impunity, violate the express commands of God; remembering that, though the young man may rejoice in his youth, and let his heart cheer him in the days of his youth, and may walk in the ways of his heart, and in the sight of his eyes; yet, for all these things, God will bring him into judgment.m

IV. But terrible would be the anticipation of the least guilty among the sons of men, if he looked forward to that great day, relying only upon what he could do for himself. Impartial self-examination will discover, in the past life of every one, many a folly and many a sin, for which no repentance, however sincere, could, by its inherent efficacy, ever atone: and when he weighs even himself in the balance, he is conscious that he is found wanting. But the resurrection of Christ not only gives assurance of future judgment; it is closely

m Eccles. xi. 9.

connected with the spiritual blessings obtained to us by his merits. It is connected with that regeneration, without which our Lord himself declares no man shall see the kingdom of God. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," says St. Peter, "which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." It is

n

closely connected with our justification: for as Christ" was delivered for our offences," so he "was raised again for our justification." It is, therefore, immediately connected with our sanctification, through the influence of God's Holy Spirit with that purity of life, that willing obedience to the precepts of God, by which only the reality of a saving faith is made known: that we "may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in" Christ."

If we would partake of the benefits which, as on this day, were assured to mankind, we must comply with the conditions on which those benefits are offered. There must, even in this world, take place in us a death, and a rising again: a death unto sin, and a rising again unto righteousness. "Know ye not, that

n 1 Pet. i. 3,

P Acts xxvi. 18.

• Rom. iv. 25.

so many of us as were baptized unto Christ, were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with him, by baptism, into death, that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For, if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us, he that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in us."

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Consider, then, what responsibility rests upon us, to avail ourselves of the benefits which have been assured to us by the resurrection of Christ. There is required of us the continual mortifying of all our corrupt affections: a constant struggle with the sin, whatever it may be, which most easily besets us. It is, indeed, an inestimable privilege which true believers attain by the Gospel dispensation. They are buried with Christ in baptism, "wherein also they are risen with him, through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”

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But then, how urgent is the appeal which

Rom. vi. 3-5.

$ Col. ii. 12.

Rom. viii. 11.

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