66 him, and putting his hands on the marks of his wounds; which the rest, as well as he, when they were "terrified, and supposed they had seen a spirit," and not their Lord, were invited to do. "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I my"self; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not "flesh and bones, as ye see me have."3 They could not, after such trials, be deceived in so plain a matter. And if it be imagined, that they might intend to deceive others, consider they began their testimony to his resurrection, at the very time, and in the very place, where they affirmed this fact to have happened. Their adversaries had all the power of the place in their hands; and all the advantages that men could wish for detecting the fraud, if it was one; and they were in the strongest manner interested and concerned to make use of them. Is it possible, now, that men so timorous, as the disciples plainly were just before, should, immediately after, venture, without need, to bring the just resentment of both magistrates and people upon themselves, by asserting so strange an event, if it was not true? Yet they did assert it; and far from being disproved in it, thousands at once, notwithstanding the most powerful worldly motives, and the deepest rooted prejudices to the contrary, were convinced by them. And thus they went on, through many years, to the end of their days, all of them suffering patiently and joyfully, for the sake of this testimony, every thing that could be terrible in life, and at length death itself; nor is it pretended, that any one of them either retracted at any time what he had said, or behaved in any respect so as to weaken the credit of it. On the contrary, they were uncommonly pious and virtuous, as well as bold and unwearied; and to com (3) Luke xxiv. 37–39. plete the strength of their evidence, they not only taught, illiterate as they were, a doctrine more worthy of a God, than the wisest of men had known before, professing to have received it from their Master's mouth; but they confirmed the whole by vast numbers of miracles, which he Cenabled them, and they enabled their followers, to perform both during that age and the next. Nor If This is briefly the proof of our Saviour's resurrection. And if this be sufficient proof, then it is no objection, that more than sufficient was not given; for instance, that he did not appear to the rulers and whole people. They had no way deserved it. He was no way bound to it. doth God, in any case, give men just such evidence as they please; but such as he knows to be enough for honest minds; and if others will not believe without more, they must take the consequences. Christ appeared to the twelve Apostles often; to five hundred persons at once besides. this number be thought too small, when was ever the tenth part of it required in any other matter? And if Christ was to appear to all the Jews, why not to all the Gentiles? why not to all us at this day? We have no proof, that any one, who desired it, was refused seeing him. Possibly many, certainly St. Paul, were converted by seeing him. Some persons nothing would have convinced; others would not have owned their conviction. This would have made strange confusion. And had the whole nation been convinced, their notions of the Messiah's temporal kingdom would, probably, have thrown them at the same time into a rebellion against the Romans; or, however, the suspicions of the Romans would have driven them into one; and then the Gospel would have been thought a mere political artifice, to serve a favorite purpose. Nay, had they continued quiet, and the Romans let them alone, even then we should have lost that evidence for the truth of our religion, which arises from persecutions undergone by the first teachers of it; from the very advantageous circumstances, that the Jews, our adversaries, have been the keepers of those prophecies, which prove Christ to be come; and also from their wonderful dispersion and preservation; besides the proof which will arise, in God's good time, from their conversion to Christianity. II. Thus much for the reality of Christ's resurrection. The circumstances of it, which was the second head proposed, it is best that you should read in the New Testament, where they are told at large. And if the accounts, which the several Evangelists give, should seem not easy to be reconciled in some particulars, you will recollect, that nothing is more common in all histories, than for one to omit what another relates-to tell but part of what another tells more fully-to join close together in writing, what happened at some distance of time in fact; and to neglect a trifling exactness in points that are not material. And the Spirit of God, which directed the Gospel historians, might, with great wisdom, permit them to do thus it being a strong proof to every considerate mind, that they did not contrive together what story they should tell; but that each related, fairly and artlessly, what he saw and heard at the time, and recollected afterwards, concerning this great fact of which the more absolutely certain they were in general, the less they would think of being accurate in every little part; and of drawing up a methodical, and minute, and scrupulously strict narration of the whole that had passed. But there is one circumstance, which requires to be considered more distinctly-that of the time. The almost constant expression of Scripture concerning this, is the same with that of the Creed, that "he rose again the third day :" reckoning the day of his death for the first, the day which he continued dead for the second, the day of his resurrection for the third. And this is the common way of computing every where. Thus, the Jews computed the eighth day, on which their children were to be circumcised. Thus, also, the physicians call that a tertian, or third day ague, in which there is but one day wholly free from it. And thus men reckon in all cases. Sometimes the expression in Scripture is, that " he should rise after "three days," meaning, not after the third day was ended, but after it was begun. Just as when Rehoboam had said unto the people, "Come again "unto me after three days," it follows, “So all "the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, "as the king bade, saying, Come again to me on "the third day."4 And in one single place of the New Testament it is said, "the Son of Man should "be in the heart of the earth three days and three "nights." But this, without doubt, was intended to be understood comformably to the rest as it well may. For a day and night in the Jewish language, is no more than what we commonly call a day in ours. Hence, we find in the Book of Esther, than when she had appointed the Jews to fast for her good success, "neither eating nor drinking three days, night nor day;" that is, to fast three days and three nights; and, after that she would go in to the king to petition for them: the very next words, notwithstanding, are, that "on the third day she put on her royal apparel, "and went into the king's presence." "Again, when we read, that Elijah went forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the Mount of God, (1 Kings, xix. 8.) we have no cause to think that the meaning 66 (4) 2 Chron.x. 512. See Whitby on Mark vii. 31. (6) Esth. iv. 16. v. 1. See Whitby on Matt. xii. 40. is, that he travelled incessantly, night and day for so, his journey must have been much sooner ended: but that he employed in it such a part of every day, during all that time, as he was con veniently able. This way of speaking may seem strange to us; but the Jews understand it so well, that not a man of them, excepting a very weak one of late date, hath ever pretended to raise an objection from this passage, though very slight pretences will serve their turn. Thus, then, our Saviour dying on Friday, and rising on Sunday, was dead three days, and yet rose the third; which was a sufficient space of time to prove him really dead; but not sufficient, either for him to see corruption, or for his enemies to leave off watching his grave, or for his disciples to despair absolutely and totally; and, therefore, no fitter time could have been fixed. III. The third point to be considered is-the uses of the resurrection of Christ; which are great and many. : In general, it appears plainly from hence, that he really came from God; and that, therefore, whatever he hath commanded must be done and whatever he hath affirmed, promised, or threatened, will be found true. For there can possibly be no stronger proof of his divine mission, than when he had been openly put to death as a deceiver, for God to reverse the sentence in so ex-! traordinary a manner, as restoring him to life again. This was the great evidence to which he had, before his death, appealed. No one either did, or could, object against it, as not being a decisive one; and, therefore, on its coming to pass, as he had foretold it would, he is justly said, by the Apostle, to be "declared the Son of God with (7) Nizzachon vet. Wagenseil, p. 236. who objects, that at most it could be but three days and two nights. (8) Concerning this whole matter, see Reland, iv, 1-21. |