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SERMON LXXII.

CHRIST'S RESURRECTION A PROOF OF OURS.

14.

SERM.
LXXII.

1 COR. XV. 12.

Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no Resurrection of the

dead?

THAT Jesus Christ, after He was put to death upon the Cross, was raised again to life, is not only one of the articles of our Christian faith, but that upon which all the rest are founded; so that take away this, and the other would all fall to the ground, together with all our hopes of pardon 1 Cor. 15. and Salvation. For as the Apostle here observes, " If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." Not only in that all that we believe besides stands upon the same bottom with this, but likewise because [1 Pet.1.9.] without this we could never "attain the end of our faith, even the Salvation of our souls," that depending upon intercession which Christ maketh for us in Heaven, which He could never have made if He had not risen from the dead; especially that great article, the Resurrection of the dead, depends so entirely upon Christ's Resurrection, that a man cannot believe the one without the other, and he who believes either must needs believe both. At least, he that believes that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, cannot but believe that all mankind shall do so as well as he, he having the same ground for the one as he hath for the other.

the

Hence, therefore, the Apostle in this chapter being directed by the Spirit of God to reveal what was necessary to be known and believed concerning the Resurrection of the dead

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3, 4.

in general, he begins with the Resurrection of Christ, and the grounds we have to believe that He rose from the dead: first, from the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, foretelling Cor. 15. that Christ should rise from the dead; and then from the testimony of those who had seen Him after He was risen, assuring us that He" was seen of Cephas, then of the Twelve, ver. 5-8. after that of above five hundred brethren at once, after that He was seen of James, then of all the Apostles again, and last of all of himself" too. From whence he takes occasion to shew how unworthy he was of so great a favour; and then he draws this conclusion from what he had thus premised concerning Christ's Resurrection, that the dead shall certainly rise again: "Now," saith He, "if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no Resurrection of the dead?"

Acts 23. 8.

" 18.

From whence we may first observe, that there were some in those days that denied it; such were the sect of the Sadducees, who said "that there is no resurrection ;" and Matt.22.23; such were Hymenæus and Philetus, of whom the same Apostle saith, "That they have erred, saying that the 2 Tim. 2.17, Resurrection is past already, and overthrew the faith of some.' Where we may observe by the way, that by saying that the Resurrection is past already, they overthrew the faith of such as hearkened to them; so that they could have no true faith at all, that being wholly grounded upon the same bottom with our hopes of the Resurrection to come; and yet this damnable heresy, which hath been asleep almost ever since the Apostles' days, is now received, to our shame be it spoken, in ours. There being a sort of people risen up among us, who leaving the good Word of God and following their own corrupt humours and fancies under the name of the light within them, have been led themselves, and strive to lead others, into this among other most horrid opinions, that strike at the foundation of the Christian religion; for though they profess to believe the Resurrection of the dead, yet they understand it, not of the body, but the soul; when that riseth from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, and so is in effect the same with regeneration, which being effected in this life in all that are regenerated, it is past already, and therefore not to be expected hereafter, which

SERM.

LXXII. plainly overthrows this great article of our faith, “the Resurrection of the body," and by consequence the faith of all that are so weak and careless of their own Salvation, as to suffer themselves to be led blindfold into such pernicious and destructive heresies.

Against such kind of heretics the Apostle here argues, wondering how any can deny the Resurrection of the dead, now it is so plain and undeniable that Christ was raised from the dead. "Now if Christ," saith he, "be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no Resurrection of the dead?" He looks upon this as such an invincible argument, that he cannot but admire how any are able to withstand it; and so shall we too, if we do but impartially consider these few things.

For, first, this answers all the reasons that can be alleged against the possibility of it, for which so many have denied that the dead shall rise again to life, even because it seemed, at least to them, altogether impossible, that the soul which is once separated from the body should be afterwards united to it again, and that the parts of a body that are separated from one another, and reduced perhaps into thousands of atoms, and dispersed in as many various and far distant places, should notwithstanding come together again, every one into its proper place, so as to make up the same body as they did before: but that the soul which is separated from its body may be united to it again, cannot be now doubted of, seeing it was actually done in the Resurrection of Christ. For it is a known principle, that what hath been done may be done; but the soul of Christ was reunited to His body, and therefore souls may be united again to their bodies, how long soever they have been separated from them. And if a separate soul or spirit may be united again to its body, much more may the parts of the same body, when separated, be again united together, they being all of the same nature, and having a natural tendency and inclination to the place from whence they came, and being all under the eye of God, when separated from one another, as much as when they were all joined together in the same body. But it is a certain rule, that He who can do the greater can do the less. And therefore seeing He raised

Christ from the dead, no question can be made but that He can thus raise us too if He please.

And that He will be pleased to do it, appears also from the Resurrection of Christ. For as He died, so He rose again, not in a private but public capacity: not as a single person only, but as the common head and representative of all mankind, so that we are said "to be risen with Him." Col. 3. 1. Because our nature in general rose in Him, all that partake of that nature must needs do so too, His Resurrection being not only a most certain pledge and earnest, but the firstfruits of ours, as the Apostle here saith, "Now is Christ 1 Cor.15.20. risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept." But as the same Apostle elsewhere saith, "If Rom. 11.16. the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy." And if He rose as the first-fruits, the whole lump or mass of mankind must also arise. And therefore the Apostle here adds, "For since by man came death, by man came also the 1 Cor. 15. Resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." That is, all mankind shall as certainly rise again to life in Christ the second Adam, as they died in the first; and all by virtue of His Resurrection from the dead, which therefore is not only the pattern and example, but the cause of ours and such a cause that it cannot but take effect. But all men that die shall as certainly rise again, as Christ did so, and because He did so.

21, 22.

Moreover, from the Resurrection of Christ, we may infallibly conclude that we shall rise again, because He was Rom. 1. 4. thereby declared to be the Son of God. For God having declared Him to be His Son by raising Him from the dead, He thereby attested and confirmed all that Christ had said or taught; but He, through the whole course of His ministry, taught mankind that they should rise again at the last day. "The hour is coming," saith He, "in the which all John 5. 28, that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the Resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the Resurrection of damnation ;" and elsewhere He promiseth those that come unto Him, "That He will raise them up at the last chap. 6. 40day;"" and that they shall be recompensed at the Resur Luke 14.14.

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29.

44.

Luke 20.37, 38.

SERM. rection of the just." And when the Sadducees, which deLXXII. nied the Resurrection, propounded a question to Him about it, which they thought to be unanswerable, He did not only convince them of their ignorance and error, but demonstrated to them, out of the writings of Moses himself, that the dead shall rise again; "Now," saith He, "that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; for He is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto Him." Which argument was so plain and evident to them, that they had not a word to say against it. Seeing, therefore, Christ thus effectually taught and proved that the dead shall rise again, and seeing God, by raising Him from the dead, declared that He was His Son, and, by consequence, that whatsoever He had taught was true, therefore whosoever believeth that Christ was raised from the dead, must of necessity believe that all shall be so at the last day.

ver. 10.

Acts 17.31.

The same thing appears also from the end of His Resur"for to this end Christ both died and rose and Rom. 14. 9. rection, revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living;" "that He might exercise supreme authority and dominion over all," as He will at the last day, when, as it there follows, "we shall stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." Which we are likewise fully assured of by His Resurrection from the dead, as we learn from the same Apostle, saying, “That God hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom He hath or dained, even Jesus Christ; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." From whence it is evident, that He was therefore raised again, that He might judge both the dead and the living, and that we are thereby also assured by God Himself, that He will do it; but that He cannot do, unless the dead be raised again to life; for so long as their bodies continue in the grave, or in a state of separation from their souls, they are not in being as men, and so not capable of appearing as such before Him: and therefore unless the bodies of all men that ever died should be raised again and their souls reunited to them, so as to be all made alive again as they were

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