of the Twelve; after that he was seen of above five hundred Brethren at once; to which he fubjoins his own Teftimony, Laft of all be was feen of me, after his Afcenfion to Heaven; which neceffarily prefuppofed his RESURRECTION. There being no Article of Religion of greater Weight and Moment than this, which is the very Bafis of Christianity, therefore the Apostles dwell upon it, and bore their Witness before their most bitter and implacable Enemies. After our Lord's Afcenfion to Heaven, and pouring out the Holy Ghost on his Apoftles, PETER addrefs'd himself to those who had been guilty of crucifying the Lord of Life and Glory, and charged them to their Faces with this Sin, and affirmed that God had raised him from the Dead; and on this weighty fundamental Article of Faith he enlarges, as you may read by confulting the 2d Chapter of the Acts, from the 23d to the 34th Verse. To this Purpose he quotes a Passage from DAVID, Pfalm xvi. 10. where that Prophet thus expreffes himself, My Flesh alfo fhall reft in Hope, for thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, neither wilt thou fuffer thine Holy-One to fee Corruption. Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, that is, in the invifible State, the Mansion of the Bleffed, and of happy Souls. Hades, or ads, fignifies the invifible State, ains the proper Signification of the Word. Let Bb 2

it

it be observed, that it was an ancient prevailing Opinion that adns or ains, denoting the invifible State, confifted of two Partitions, one belonging to the bleffed and happy Departed Spirits, the other to the wretched and miferable Spirits. To the former of these the Soul of Christ went when he expired on the Crofs; which the Words of our Lord to the Penitent Thief will confirm; This Day thou Shalt be with me in Paradife: Which, by the Way; fhews the Neceffity of altering that Article of Chrift's Defcent into Hell, which might better be thus changed, He went to the invifible State of happy and blessed Spirits. Neither wilt thou fuffer thine Holy-One to fee Corruption: St. PETER, quoting this illuftrious Prophecy, remarks, that DAVID could not mean this of himself, as in the 31st. Verse of the second Chapter of the Acts, but that it must neceffarily be understood of the Meffiah; He, that is DAVID, seeing this before, being infpired by the Holy Ghoft, Spake of the Refurrection of Chrift, That his Soul was not left in Hell; did not abide long in that feparate State from the Body, neither did his Flefh fee Corruption; he continued not fo long in the Grave as to be corrupted therein. PAUL quotes the fame remarkable Passage from the Royal Prophet, and reasons upon it, Acrs xiii. 36, 37. Wherefore be faith al fo, in another Pfalm, Thou wilt not fuffer thine

St.

Holy-One

Holy-One to fee Corruption: For DAVID, af ter he had ferved his own Generation, fell asleep, and was laid to his Fathers, and faw Corrupti

on;

but be whom God raifed again Saw no Corruption: This is another Confideration, proving the great Weight and Moment of this Article of our Faith, namely, that the Apostles of our Lord were chosen more efpecially to bear their united Witness and Testimony to this Truth.

3dly, The vaft Importance of it further appears from this Confideration, that it is the principal Ground of our Juftification in the Sight of God. 'Tis from the Death of our Lord that our Hope of the Remiffion of Sins begins; but our Hope would be immediately fupprefs'd unless we regard him as Risen from the Dead. Without this, Faith in him would be vain and groundless. Christ died for our Sins, and in our ftead: How do we know that he accomplished what he undertook? This we know by his Resurrection. He died to make Expiation and Atonement for the Sins of the World, to make Reconciliation for Iniquity: When God raised him up, and discharged him from the Prison of the Grave, he gave a publick Declaration, that what he had done in dying for our Sins was a fufficient Expiation, and therefore 'tis faid to be a Sacrifice of a fweet-fmelling Savour,

highly acceptable to God. He was the Propi tiation for our Sins, and not for our Sins only, but for the Sins of the whole World, for he gave bimfelf a Ransom for all, and tafted Death for every Man. When God released: him from the Grave, he declared to all that what our Saviour did in dying for us was fufficient to procure Juftification for all those who will repent fincerely, and believe in him, with all their Hearts, who is the Propitiation; and thus, by Faith in his Blood, we gain the Remiffion of Sins. With the greatest Propriety, therefore, does the Author to the HEBREWS ftyle the Bleffed God The God of Peace, when he exerted his Power in Chrift's Refurrection: HEBREWS xiii. 20. The God of Peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jefus, the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant, &c. The Doctrine of our Lord's Refurrection, therefore, must be of the greatest Moment and Importance; for without this, Faith in him would be vain and most abfurd. Agreeably to this, the Scriptures put the main Stress and Emphasis on this. See ROMANS viii. 34, Who is he that condemneth? It is Chrift that died, yea rather that is rifen again. So in Chap. iv. 25, Who was delivered for our Offences, and was raised again for our Juftification. God raised him up, and gave him Glory, that our Faith and Hope

might be in God. When PETER had infisted on the Doctrine of our Lord's RESURRECTION, and that he was ordained to be the Judge of all, he adds, in the 43d Verfe of the Chapter wherein is the Text, To bim give all the Prophets Witnefs, that, through his Name, whofoever shall believe in him, shall receive the Remiffion of Sins. Our Hope of Juftification and the Remiffion of Sins takes its Original from the Death of our Saviour, who died for our Sins: But how do we know that he made a valuable and fufficient Atonement? This we know by his RESURRECTION. Without carrying on our View and Regard to this, we could have no folid Hope of obtaining fuch a Favour and Privilege, but should be, as the Apoftle expreffes it, yet in our Sins; but now God is the God of Peace.

4thly, The vaft Importance of this Doctrine, and of a stedfast Belief of it, appears hence, that it is the Foundation upon which our Hope of a Resurrection to immortal Life is built. To this Purpose we may observe how the Apostle reafons in his Epiftle to the CORINTHIANS, in the 15th Chapter. Some in that Church had entertained the Principles of Infidelity, whilft they denied the Poffibility of the Refurrection, and the Doctrine of a future State of Recompence. To prove

the