made to shine with a lustre over which justice can cast no cloud, that mercy which willing not the death of a sinner, now beholding full atonement made for his sins in the death of that Holy One, on whom were laid the iniquities of mankind, extends pardon to all the penitent, however enormous their transgressions or aggravated their guilt.

II. Jesus crucified, passed into the tomb, and was subject to the dominion of the grave.

Here his enemies beheld, as they supposed, the completion of their designs, in the utter destruction of this innocent object of their hatred and persecution. A stone is rolled to the door of the sepulchre the seal of the Roman Governor which it would be death to violate is placed on the door

and the lifeless remains which this sepulchre contained, were guarded by a band of soldiers, from all the efforts of that affectionate zeal, or that supposed imposture, which might attempt to steal them away. Jesus, dead, buried, guarded in the sepulchre! But, Christians, faith opens this sepulchre to your view. The sacred body which it contains sees no corruption. Pure and fresh, it awaits its reunion with the immaculate soul, that but for a short period is separated from it. And that soul loses not for a moment its activity. It descends to the place of the departed— where the spirits, who, in the ages preceding, had been separated by death from the bodies that had

seen corruption, abide in darkness and woe, or in the light and bliss of Paradise. Into this holy receptacle of the blest, the soul of the Saviour enters; leading as he promised to the same place of joyful repose, the penitent companion of his dying agonies, the thief who suffered with him. Into Paradise the Saviour entersand proclaims, to the spirits of the holy saints, who, through his merits, slain as he was from the foundation of the world, are kept, not in a prison of bondage or woe, but of safety and of blissful rest, that their redemption is effected-that he has triumphed over sin, expiating it by his blood -that he has vanquished death, nailing it to his cross-that he is going to consummate the glorious victory, by rising from the grave, the earnest of their resurection, and by ascending to Heaven, to prepare there a place for them. Joyful message to the holy spirits of the departed. The Saviour himself bears to them the tidings of the glorious destiny which awaits them. Blissful as is the Paradise where now in humble hope they enjoy the divine favour; more blissful is that Heaven to which the Saviour assures them they shall be translated. Joyful the tidings-that the grave shall deliver up their bodies-that corruption shall restore its victims-and that "changed into bodies fashioned like unto the glorified

* 1 Pet. iii. 19.

body" of their Lord and Master, they shall for ever be with him in the heaven of bliss.

III. Of all this, of the truth of all his declarations, promises and threats, of the reality of all our hopes, we behold glorious and irresistible evidence, in-Jesus rising from the tomb.

Yes, on the morn of the resurrection, that sun, whose beams had been hid in the darkness of the tomb, burst forth with a lustre that shall never more be clouded, and commenced a course in which he shall never more set. Jesus, our Lord, rose, surrounded with divine splendour; and with him rose for us new, and exalted, and immortal hopes.

He rose and proved that he was not a blasphemer, when he said that he was equal with God that he was not an impostor, when he announced that his Father had sent him into the world that he was not a deceiver, when he testified, that though the Son of Man should suffer, and be crucified, the third day he should rise from the dead. Invested with all power in Heaven and in earth, Lord of the living and the dead, holding the keys of death and hell, so that he opens and none can shut, and he shuts and none can open, he rose from the tomb, not as he descended into it, the crucified malefactor, the helpless victim of malice and persecution, but "the Head of his Church," the Ruler of the kingdoms of the world,

d Philip. iii. 21.

the Lord of lords. What a change is this-from the darkness and ignominy which surrounded the man of sorrows, to the splendour and power that encircle the Lord of Glory! Jesus is proved to be "the Son of God, with power, by his resurrection from the dead ""-Great things he hath done.

Great things hath his resurrection done for us. He rose to assure us of the most important blessings; to impose on us the most exalted duties; and to inspire us with the most elevated hopes.

He rose to assure us that he, who was once a suffering Saviour, subject to the power of his enemies, and unable, to human appearance, to save himself from death, has now become a Redeemer, mighty to save.

He rose to assure us, that the atonement, which, by pouring forth his soul unto death upon the cross, he had made for our sins, is accepted by his Almighty Father as all-sufficient and availing,

"Delivered,"as he was, "for our offences, he rose for our justification," to assure us that, for all our sins, there is fulness of pardon-that, guilty and obnoxious as we are to wrath, through his propitiation we may be made the subjects of the favour of God, who is "reconciling us unto himself, not imputing unto us our trespasses and sins "" -that, as the Author and Finisher of our redemp, tion, he might send to us that Holy Spirit, who, by his miraculous gifts, was to establish his Church,

• Rom. i. 4.

Rom. iv. 25.

#2 Cor. v. 19.

and by his animating power to preserve it, and who is to be the agent of our sanctification, and the source of consolations through whose quickening power we die unto sin, and live unto God. To impose on us these sacred duties is ano ther principal object of his resurrection.

h

The impressive lesson which it teaches us, is, that, in the language of the Apostle, "like as Christ was raised up from the dead, by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life "." He died to expiate our sins-he rose to redeem us from their power. He died to rescue us from spiritual bondage; he rose to assert his dominion over us, that, as the people whom he hath redeemed, we should "live, not for ourselves, but for him who died for us, and rose again." He died to teach us that we must be crucified with him, that "the body of sin must be destroyed," that we must be transformed, by dying unto sin into the likeness of his death-And he rose to teach us, that dead to our former sinful pursuits, we must live to him; that leaving, as it were, in the tomb, into which, with him, we descend, the polluted garments of the old man, we must put on the splendid apparel of the "new man, which, after him, is created in righteousness and true holiness';" and, from the darkness and corruption into which sin had plunged us, we