SERMON XXV.

EASTER SUNDAY.

[Preached at Northallerton, on Easter Sunday, 1828.]

MATTHEW Xxvii. 52, 53.

The graves were opened; and many bodies of saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

I HAVE selected this passage of Scripture for our consideration this morning, because it enables us to complete the view, which has now occupied us through the last week, of the circumstances which occurred at the conclusion of our Saviour's ministry. When we last met, we dwelt upon the dying hours of our blessed Lord, and the wonders which took place when He resigned His suffering spirit to His Father-when He bowed His head upon the blood-stained cross, and when the hopes of those who thought that He had come to redeem Israel appeared to be in vain. We now celebrate the moment of His triumph over the power of the grave, when He became the first fruits of them

that sleep, the pledge and the earnest of that great harvest when all mankind shall rise in like manner. I know not whether to dwell upon the prospects that were this day opened to the human race, when life and immortality were brought to light-when our future existence in a better, and more glorious world, was made so undeniably certain, that there can be no longer a doubt of our resurrection upon the mind of any man who will study the evidences of Christianity-or whether I shall follow the custom which is so generally observed on this day, of pointing out the truth of certain facts, and shewing the force of those arguments which prove the rising again of our Saviour; and, therefore, of our own resurrection. The views which open upon the soul of man when he shall rise again from the dead, are so splendid, and so attractive-the representations of an endless existence where affliction shall never reach us-where tears are banished, where temptations cannot enter-where evil cannot prevail-where the weary are at rest-where there is fulness of spiritual joy-and serenity and peace in the continued enjoyment of the presence of a reconciled God-these representations, I say, which abound in the Scripture of truth, are so endearing, so lovely, so magnificent, that it is difficult to direct our attention to other things, when we are to treat upon our resurrection from the dead, and the glory which shall follow. It will, however, be more useful if we proceed in the customary way

1 Job iii. 17.

of considering the evidences, rather than the consequences, of this resurrection-more especially under the circumstances in which we are now placed. We have proceeded regularly through all the principal events of the conclusion of our Saviour's ministry. And it now only remains that we consider those which now followed-namely, His death upon the cross; together with the events which demonstrate the certainty of His resurrection. Our review of the incidents of this period will thus be more properly terminated: and I am sure, that our examination of this proofs which establish the truths of this latter fact, will confirm our faith in the system of redemption-and will so lead us to the study of the wonderful immortality which is prepared for us, that we may elevate our thoughts to heaven, and be more influenced to a holy life by the rewards which are promised, than by the terrors which are threatened.

The evidences in favour of a resurrection from the dead, may be divided into those which are taken from the testimony of reason-those which may be inferred from such passages of Scripture as that before us—but principally those which are derived from the resurrection of Christ. All of them are extensive and satisfactory. We will briefly consider them in the order I have mentioned.

There may be, in the first place, some arguments in favour of the resurrection of the body derived from reason. I do not mean that reason alone could discover them; but that since Revelation has

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brought the doctrine to light-reason approves and confirms the discovery. I therefore mention this, to appeal to those who so much exalt the power their own reason. It is certain that when the eye of affection gazes upon the consequences of death -when we look down upon the cold, and pale, and silent form which but a few days ago was all animation, strength, and life-the first natural, unavoidable impression even of the best men, too often is, the total impossibility of the restoration of our departed friends to a new and better life. The voice which came to the prophet, when he was placed in the valley of the dry bones, appears to be the voice of reason, and of nature-Son of man, can these dry bones live? Yes, they can. Since the Son of God has arisen and brought life and immortality to light, every thing must prove to us the certainty of the resurrection of the body, as well as the immortality of the soul. Reason declares it

in the work of creation-in the very return of the spring-in our own experience of the union of soul and body. You may remember that I sometime ago urged the doctrine of the possibility of a resurrection from the work of creation. If God by His Almighty power could so act, that the trees, and fruits, and plants, and flowers, which are suited to every varied soil and climate under heaven, should come forth, and bud and blossom over the whole surface of the earth, at the same moment of time why should not the same power be able to raise the dead? If, too, the hand of Providence

is so ruling and governing the surface of the earth, that the invisible seeds which are scattered over it, begin to break forth in the spring of the year, and cover the ground with verdure and beauty, why should not the same Providence bring forth to life that which has ever been of more value than these inferior things? If the trees can awake from the death of winter, when they are bare and barren, and leafless, to assume their foliage, and fragrancy, and loveliness in the spring, why shall there not be the spring time of the grave, when the winter of death shall be over, and a new scene of existence begin? This, indeed, is the very argument which is used by St. Paul-Some men will say how are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come1? Is it with the same bodies in which they departed hence, or is it with other bodies ?That which thou sowest, is the answer, is not quickened, except it die 2. The grain of wheat, or the seed of a flower, which a man puts into the earth, cannot live again, except it first die, and seem to perish; and thou sowest not that body that shall be. We do not put a grain of corn into the ground in order that the same one grain of corn shall come forth. We put it into the ground that it may come up in a far different, and more attractive form. We expect its appearance with the tenderness of the stalk, the beauty of the plant, the fruitfulness of the ear. It comes forth quite different from that

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1 1 Cor. xv. 35.

2 Ibid, ver. 36.