SERMON V.

CHRIST THE FIRST FRUITS.

BY BISHOP BEVERIDGE.

(WILLIAM BEVERIDGE was born in 1637: in 1704 he was consecrated Bishop of St. Asaph, and died in 1708.]

SERMON V.

1 CORINTHIANS, XV. 20.

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.

WHEN we seriously consider how much the Son of God suffered for our sins, we cannot but be highly concerned, and troubled at the remembrance of those sins for which so great a Person suffered; for certainly it was the greatest demonstration that ever was or could be given, of the divine displeasure against the sins of mankind, that no less a person than the Son of God himself was able to expiate them, nor he by any less means than his own blood. The consideration whereof, should not only deter us from the commission of sin hereafter, but it should make us loathe and abhor ourselves for those which we have committed heretofore. What grief, what horror should seize upon our spirits every time that we consider how the eternal Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, was affronted, was abused, was spit upon, was arraigned, was condemned, was crucified, was put to death, to the painful, to the shameful, to the

cursed death upon the cross, and all for those very sins, which we, ungrateful wretches that we are, have lived and delighted in ! Methinks the re

membrance of it should make us blush and be ashamed of ourselves, and never think that we can grieve enough for those sins, for which Christ himself not only grieved, but died.

But lest this consideration duly weighed, should lie so heavy upon our spirits, as by degrees to sink them down into despair, we must consider withal, that as the remembrance of Christ's suffering for our sins affords us great matter for grief and sorrow, so the remembrance of his resurrection supplies us with as much cause of joy and comfort. We had great reason the other day to lament and bewail those sins, which brought our blessed Lord with sorrow to his grave. And we have as great reason this day to rejoice and triumph, that he was raised again from it: which was so great, so exceeding great a blessing to mankind, that it ought to be our constant employment while we are upon earth, as it will be when we come to heaven, to praise and magnify the eternal God for it. At least upon every Lord's-day, which was therefore set apart for our Lord's service, because he rose upon it. But above all other Lord's-days, that which succeeded the Jewish Passover, wherein our Lord suffered, hath been all along devoted by the church to the memory of his resurrection, which happened upon it, and to our rejoicing and praising Almighty God for so great a mercy as

that was.

This therefore being the proper work of the day, that I may prepare you the better for it, and assist you as well as I can in the due performance

of it, I shall endeavour to show what you ought to believe concerning the resurrection of Christ, and what cause you have to rejoice and to give thanks to God this day, that you can say with the holy apostle, 'Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.'

In which words we may observe,

I. That Christ did truly rise again.

II. That he thereby became the first fruits of them that slept.'

In speaking to the first, we shall consider,.

1. In what sense Christ is said to have risen from the dead.

2. What ground we have to believe that he did so.

3. What benefit we have received by it, for which we ought to rejoice, and give thanks unto God this day.

As for the first, in what sense Christ is said to have risen from the dead:-that we, shall easily understand, if we do but consider, how that Christ so took our human nature upon him, that he became really and truly a man, of the same nature and substance with other men in all things except sin. Consisting, as other men do, of a rational soul and a terrestrial body, and both so united together, as that his body was quickened, informed, and actuated by his soul; by which means he performed all vital actions, and therefore was properly said to live, as we do, and that for several years together, until at length his body, by the excessive pain and torture that he suffered upon the cross, being made incapable of all vital motion, and so unfit for the soul to inhabit any longer, the knot was untied, and his soul was separated from his