which has wiped away the Scandal and Ignominy of the Crofs, and made it a rational Act of Faith to hope for Life and Immortality from Him, who himself once died upon the Tree.

For the Truth of this Expofition I appeal to St. Paul, who, 1 Cor. xv. 17, has told us, that, if Chrift be not rifen, our Faith is vain; we are yet in our Sins. So that Faith in the Death of Chrift, not grounded on the Affurance of his Resurrection, is a vain Faith, and fuch an one as cannot deliver us from our Sins. Nay, that the Death of Christ could not have been a Propitiation for Sin without his Resurrection, he exprefly teaches in the next Verse, saying, that, if Christ be not raised, then they also, which are fallen afleep in Chrift, are perished.

The Power of the Refurrection, together with the Atonement for Sin made by the Death of Chrift, is very beautifully expreffed by St. Paul, Rom. viii. 34: Who is he that condemneth? It is Chrift that died, yea rather that is rifen again, who is even at the right Hand of God, who alfo maketh Interceffion for us. The Death of Chrift freed us from Condemnation; but then was our Freedom made manifeft, when he came from the Grave in Triumph, and led Captivity captive;

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when he afcended to the right Hand of his Father to be our perpetual High-Priest and Mediator: For, as the Apostle argues, if, when we were Enemies, we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, fhall we be faved by his Life; i. e. by his Resurrection to Life and to Glory.

This Account, as it gives the true Interpretation of the Text, fo likewife does it fhew of what great Moment the Resurrection of our Lord was, which was to be the Bafis and Support of the whole Christian Inftitution, and the Ground of our Hope and Faith in him. That Chrift died the Death of a common Malefactor after a Life spent in Innocency, and a conftant and laborious Teaching of the great Duties of Religion and Morality, was but common to him, and others before him, whom God had raised up to be fhining Lights of the World. Thus the Prophets of old were perfecuted and destroyed by fundry kinds of Death: But in their Blood there was no Expiation for Sin: The Blood of Abel and of the Prophets spoke no fuch Language, but cried to God for Vengeance against a cruel and a guilty World. Had Chrift died like one of them, and been no more heard of, how fhould we have believed that his Death had atoned for

all the reft of the Blood that had been fpilt from the Foundation of the World? or that the whole Earth had obtained Remiffion of Sin from God by destroying one more, and him the greatest of all the Prophets, in the moft cruel Manner? But, when our Lord rose from the Grave, and brought back with him the Pardon which he had fealed with his own Blood; when, inftead of executing Wrath upon his Enemies, he fent again the Offer of Peace and Reconciliation, and took upon himself to be their Mediator and Interceffor, as he had already been their Sacrifice; what Room was there to doubt of the Efficacy of his Death, the Efficacy of which was fo undeniably confirmed by his Refurrection? or what Reafon to miftruft the Salvation he offered others, when, by faving himself from the Power of Death, he had given the fullest Evidence how able he was to fave others alfo? The most incredulous of his Enemies defired him only to come down from the Crofs, and they would believe him: But how much better Reason had they to believe him, when he came; not from the Crofs, but from the Grave, which was by much the furer Hold, and from which before no Mortal had ever escaped! How undeniable was this Teftimony of God's

Love to Mankind, that, after the ill Reception his Son had found among them, after all the cruel Ufage he had experienced, and the ignominious Death he had fuffered, he yet fent him once more from the Grave to convince Unbelievers, and to proclaim and confirm the Pardon he had purchased for them!

His first Coming was attended with a mean Birth and narrow Fortune, his Education was fuitable to his Condition, and the greatest Part of his Life spent in Obscurity: He had no Form or Comeliness that we should defire him; he was a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with Grief: And, when he fell a Victim to the Malice and Rage of the People, his best Friends, the constant Companions of his Sorrow, gave him over for loft; they esteemed him ftricken and smitten of God: All their Hopes died with him, and the Remembrance of his Miracles and mighty Works was buried in the fame Tomb with himself; and nothing lefs was thought of, than that this was he who should redeem Ifrael from all his Sins. But, when he came again from the Bosom of the Earth, having subdued the Powers of Darkness and of Death, then was he declared to be the Son of God with Power; and the Glory as of the onlybegotten

begotten Son of God fhone clearly through the Veil of Flesh which had fo long obfcured it. And from thenceforth our Faith has stood, not in the Words which the Wisdom or Cunning of Man teacheth, but in the Power and Demonstration of the Spirit of Life: And we can with Affurance fay, We know in whom we have trufted, expecting Life and Salvation from Him alone, who is the Lord of Life and Glory. But, after all, if the Refurrection of Chrift is the Support of all other Articles of the Chriftian. Faith, how is itself fupported? To our common Apprehenfion nothing more incredible than that a Man dead and buried fhould be reftored to Life again.

To go into the Particulars of the Evidence of this great Event, recorded in Scripture and the oldest Writers of the Church, would open too large a Field of Discourse at prefent: And indeed there are fome Objections which naturally arise in the Minds of Men, which ought previously to that Inquiry to be removed; for the great Difficulty at which Men ftick, does not arife fo much from the Nature of the Evidence we propose, as from the Nature of the Thing itself. The Prefumptions against the Poffibility of a Refurrection operate fo ftrongly in the Minds of fome,

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