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In the explanation of the second article, we have seen that the body of Jesus, after it was taken down from the cross, was buried after the customary manner of the Jews. The chief priests caused the sepulchre to be sealed, and to be guarded by Roman soldiers. The object of this caution was, that, by securing and exhibiting the dead body of Christ, they might, as they thought, be able to disprove any report which the disciples might spread concerning his restoration to life: whereas this very caution tended to confirm the truth of his resurrection, by rendering it impossible that his body should have been removed by any human means. does God produce good out of evil, and make even wicked men the instruments of executing the great designs of his providence. It is related by all the Evangelists, that Jesus Christ, early on the third day after he was crucified and buried, arose from the dead, and afterwards appeared alive. We learn from the Acts, that the resurrection of Christ was constantly asserted, and urged with peculiar earnestness, by the first preachers of the Gospel; and in the Epistles it is repeatedly mentioned as a well-known and acknowledged fact. The resurrection of Christ was not expected by his apostles, which circumstance must be considered as giving additional weight

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weight to their testimony: When they heard from the devout women who carried spices to the sepulchre, that their crucified Lord was risen from the dead, "their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not (e):" And when our Saviour first appeared to them "they were affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit (f)." He soon convinced them that he was a really existing body; and by opening the Scriptures he explained to them, that all these wonderful events had happened according to the eternal purpose of God, declared by the mouth of his holy prophets, since the beginning of the world (g). The certainty of Christ's resurrection did not rest upon a transient glance, or a single interview with his apostles; he con versed with them for forty days, which precluded every sort of illusion or mistake; nor did it depend upon the sole testimony of these chosen ministers of the Gospel, for he was seen by various other persons, and particularly by 500 disciples at once; he ate and drank with many to whom he was known before his crucifixion; and he made Thomas feel the print of the nails by which he had been fastened to the cross, and of the spear with which his side had been pierced,

(e) Luke, c. 24. v. 11. (g) Eph. c. 3. v. 9, &c.

(f) Luke, c. 24. v. 37. Luke, c. 24. v. 44, &c.

to

to convince him that he was the same Jesus who had been crucified, that he had flesh and bones, and was not a spirit (h). He also said to all the eleven Apostles, when assembled together immediately before his ascension, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have (i).” And thus the identity of his person was uncontrovertibly ascertained, and all suspicion of his being a spirit was entirely removed. These numerous witnesses of a plain matter of fact, of which every one was a competent judge, constitute a species of proof which might well be denominated "infallible (k)."

As the enemies of Christ had been peculiarly careful to guard against any fraud or deception, and as they were fully sensible, that the resurrection, if real and generally believed, would have great influence upon the minds of men, it is impossible not to suppose that they examined into it with the most anxious diligence and most jealous minuteness; and as they did not dare to contradict it themselves, or even venture to produce the soldiers whom they had suborned for the purpose of asserting that the body of Jesus

was

(h) John, c. 20. v. 26. (i) Luke, c. 24. v. 39. (k) Acts, c. 1. v.3.

was stolen out of the grave by night, we must conclude, that they found it attested by a weight of evidence, which no authority could suppress, nor any art invalidate. Upon these grounds we believe that CHRIST DID TRULY RISE AGAIN FROM DEATH, AND TOOK AGAIN HIS BODY, WITH FLESH, BONES, AND ALL THINGS APPERTAINING TO THE PERFECTION OF MAN'S NATURE.

WHEREWITH HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN. As the resurrection of Christ was foretold by David, so also was his Ascension: "Thou hast ascended up on high; thou hast led captivity captive, and received gifts for men (1);” which passage refers to the ascension of our Saviour into heaven, to his triumph over sin and death, and to his sending the glorious gifts of the Spirit unto the sons of men. Christ himself also predicted his ascension: "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father (m)." That Christ really ascended into heaven with the same body with which he lived and died, and rose again, is declared by St. Mark, and by St. Luke, both in his Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles;

(1) Psalm 68. v. 18. Eph. c. 4. v. 9.
(m) John, c. 20. v. 17.

but

but it will be sufficient to transcribe the account from St. Luke's Gospel: "And he led out his apostles as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them and it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven (n)."—" Thus was Christ's ascension visibly performed in the presence and sight of the apostles, for the confirmation of the reality and certainty thereof. They did not see him when he rose, but they saw him when he ascended; because an eye-witness was not necessary unto the act of his resurrection, but it was necessary unto the act of his ascension. It was sufficient that Christ shewed himself to the Apostles alive after his passion; for since they knew him before to be dead, and now saw him alive, they were thereby assured that he rose again; for whatsoever was a proof of his life after death, was a demonstration of his resurrection. But since the Apostles were not to see our Saviour in heaven; since his sitting there at the right hand of God was not to be visible to them on earth, therefore it was necessary they should be eye-witnesses of the act, who were not with the same eyes to behold the effect. Besides the eye-witness of the Apostles, there

(n) Luke, c. 24. v. 50, &c.

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