the members of the supreme civil and ecclesiastical court in Athens. 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," Acts xvii. 31. God, being invisible in his own nature, a Spirit, whom no man hath seen, nor can see, hath wisely appointed that the important concerns of the last judgment shall be transacted by his Son, who, for the purposes of our salvation, assumed human nature. The office of Supreme Judge could not be properly discharged by a person of inferior dignity. Such is its great difficulty, and such its high importance, that no one but our Lord Jesus Christ is equal to the task. He alone is qualified to sustain the august character of Universal Judge.

Now, that he will judge the world, his resurrection proves, as it establishes the truth of what he had repeatedly declared upon this subject. "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son," John v. 22. "The Son of man shall come in his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations." He, as King, shall say unto the righteous, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:" and to the wicked, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," Matt. xxv. 31, 34, 41. To this superlative dignity Christ will be elevated, as a reward of his humiliation. His resurrection was the first step of his exaltation; the first-fruits of his subsequent honours. It is the ground of assurance that he will, ere long, appear in all the dignity of the Son of God, with all the authority of the Sovereign of the universe, with all the majesty of the Judge of

men and angels. Then he will judge those by whom he was judged, and finish the work which the Father gave him to do, John xvii. 4, in the final destruction of his enemies, and the complete salvation of his people.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF FAITH IN THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

TRUTH derives its importance, principally, from its effects. The most beautiful hypothesis, the most refined theory, the best connected speculative system, are of little worth, if attended with no beneficial consequences. Small, in moral calculation, is the value of those sentiments, which have no tendency to pacify the guilty conscience, to regulate the operations of our depraved will, to spiritualize the affections, and to reform the conduct. To ascertain the true excellence of religious doctrine, we must investigate its tendency. For, though tendency does not always rise into effect, it is the best criterion by which our judgment can be formed, in regard either to the absolute, or the relative importance of truth.

By this rule let us proceed in our inquiries respecting the resurrection of Christ. The power of the belief of it, proves the worth of the fact.

The witnesses of the resurrection do not content themselves with bearing testimony to the fact; they do not content themselves with showing its import; they do more: they illustrate its great utility in an experimental and practical view. They represe

it as the ground of faith; the basis of hope; a stimulus to obedience; an argument for glorying in the cross of Christ; an inducement to heavenly mindedness; and a source of consolation under various trying dispensations of Providence.

First, the resurrection of Christ is the ground of faith.

Faith requires nothing more for its support. This is firm footing; this is solid rock. On this certain fact the Christian religion securely rests. The resurrection of Christ, once established, proves all the other truths which we are required to believe; for, by authenticating his Divine mission, it sanctions all he taught. His resurrection establishes other facts inseparably connected with it, gives authority to his commands, renders his threatenings awful, confirms his promises, and justifies our expecting the accomplishment of his predictions.

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If Christ be risen from the dead, our faith in the apostolic testimony is well grounded; for the apostles were not false witnesses of Gad; their preaching, therefore, was not vain. From Jesus Christ— whom his resurrection proves to be a celestial envoy, to whom we owe the obedience of faith-the witnesses derived their commission, to " into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,' Mark xvi. 15. Their credentials, "the signs of an apostle," 2 Cor. xii. 12, the miracles which they wrought in the name of their risen Lord, attested the high authority under which they acted. Men who healed the sick, expelled demons, and raised the dead, were certainly entitled to credit. Their writings, therefore, which have been carefully transmitted to us, demand our faith.

To suppose that more regard was due to the preaching of the apostles than we owe to their

writings, is unnatural. It was as necessary that they should be true witnesses of God in what they wrote, as in what they spake: for few, comparatively, could hear their transient voice; but many may read their immortal writings. Their personal ministry was of short duration; but their writings have been handed down to the present day, and will be conveyed from generation to generation, till the end of time. The arguments which prove the necessity of any revelation, prove the necessity of either a constant miraculous interposition, or of revelation being committed to writing, by men divinely secured from error; so that the facts which they relate may be admitted as true, and their reasonings upon them justly considered as conclusive. That the writings which bear their names are the genuine productions of the apostles, there can be no reasonable doubt. To suppose otherwise, we must violate all those rules by which the genuineness of any ancient composition is ascertained. We have, certainly, much more evidence in this case than can be adduced to prove that Homer, for instance, was the author of those sublime poems which have procured him an immortal reputation. He, then, who receiveth the testimony of these witnesses, in the written word, receiveth Christ; and he who receiveth Christ, receiveth Him that sent him, John xiii. 20; who also "raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God," 1 Peter i. 21.

Thus, the resurrection of Christ is the ground of our faith in the New Testament, as a Divine revelation. The belief of this capital fact induces us to receive the sacred volume, "not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God," 1 Thess. ii. 13. As such, it demands the profoundest

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reverence, the most ardent gratitude, and unbounded confidence.

Secondly, the resurrection of Christ is the basis of hope.

That man is a depraved being, is, alas! a melancholy fact, attended with the most abundant evidence. All things rise in proof. On this humiliating subject, observation and experience confirm the decisions of Scripture. "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.' If God, therefore, were to mark iniquity, who could stand before him, Rom. iii. 23; 1 John i. 8; Psa. cxxx. 3.

But though it be an undeniable fact, that every individual of our species is a sinner, and though conscience be enthroned in every breast to testify against all sin, yet every man is naturally averse to the humiliating doctrine of human depravity and guilt. The sinner will not readily admit the idea of his blameworthiness. He cannot allow his guilt to be great. He does not suspect himself in danger. Though conscience, at times, starts from its slumbers, and loudly proclaims the multitude of his transgressions, the enormity of his crimes, and the awful attributes of God; yet soon it is lulled to sleep, charmed to a delusive rest, and its occasional rebukes make no impression, but fall, “like arrows shot against a shield of adamant.”

But when the Bible is regarded as the voice of God, as the infallible word of the supreme Legislator, "who is able to save and to destroy," Jam. iv. 12, it comes with all the authority and majesty of the Almighty Speaker, proclaiming, in the conscience of the sinner, the holiness, the justice, the sovereignty of God, and the certainty of "judgment to come."