THE THIRTIETH LECTURE.

OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

MATTH. CHAP. XXVIII.

5. But the angel answered, and said to the women, Fear ye not; for I know that ye seek Jesus, who was crucified.

6. He is not here; for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was laid.

7. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him : lo, I have told you.

MARK, CHAP. XVI.

6. But he said unto them, Be not so troubled; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who hath been crucified: he is risen ; he is not here: behold the place where they put him.

7. But go your way, and tell his disciples and Peter, that he will go before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

WE heard the last day, brethren, that there were two companies of women that came out of Jerusalem to the grave of Jesus Christ. The first company came forth in the dawning of the day, before the rising of the sun. The next company came forth somewhat later, I think, about the rising of the sun. In the first company were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, and others, who are not named. These came out of Jerusalem altogether, and as they drew near to the grave, they saw the

great stone that was rolled to the door of the grave rolled away. Mary Magdalene, as soon as she sees the stone to be rolled away, tarries no longer, but supposing it was done by men, and that they had stolen away the Lord's body by night, then in haste she runs home, and tells Peter and John, and she says to them, “They have stolen away the body of the Lord, and we know not where they have laid him." But the other women took more advisement than Mary Magdalene, for they abode still, and when she was gone home they entered into the grave, and they saw an angel standing in the grave in the likeness of a young man, “clothed with a long white robe, sitting at the right side of the grave, at which sight they were wonderfully astonished." And this angel, to my judgment, was even that same angel that rolled away the stone from the grave, and with his bright look terrified the guard and frighted them, lest they should have troubled the women. The women being astonished at the sight of the glorious angel, he begins to speak to them of the resurrection, and to tell them of these tidings. For the better understanding of the oration of the angel, we shall speak of it in these four parts. The first is a voice of comfort, a word of encouragement; "Fear not," says the angel. The next, having encouraged them, he begins to preach to them of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, testifying unto them that the Lord was risen. And he confirms, by one or two arguments, that the Lord was risen. In the third part of his oration, he gives a commandment to the women to tell the apostles, and namely, Peter, that "the Lord was risen ;" and more than that, "that that same Lord should go before them into Galilee, and there they should see him." In the fourth and last part, he concludes this speech, and he says, "Behold, I have told you." Then, after the oration of the angel, we have the effect that the oration wrought in the hearts of the women, to wit, "they fear and rejoice exceedingly," and they obey the voice of the angel, and they run home with all haste to tell the apostles that the Lord was risen.

Now, to return to the oration of the angel. It is short, but wonderous pithy. As for the first part of the oration, "Fear not,"

we spake of it the last day, and there we left off. Therefore, now we proceed to the second part, to that grave testimony which the angel gives to the resurrection of Christ. Before he speaks, he conciliates authority to his person. Whosoever speaks in the name of Christ should have an authority of person. The words are these: "I know" perfectly "that ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, that was crucified," says the angel; he asks not, "Whom seek ye?" but he breaks off the speech, and says, "I know ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, that was crucified and buried," and by this knowledge he lets them see that he was sent of God, and knew the purpose of the women ere ever they revealed it to him. What man is he that knows the mind of a man, except that the Lord give him knowledge extraordinarily? No, all the angels of heaven will not know my mind, except the Lord reveal it. No man nor angel can know the heart, and search the secrets thereof, but only God that made the heart. So, he lets them see that he was sent of God, that the word might have the greater credit; for wherefore serves the authority of persons, but that the word they speak may have the greater credit? Mark the lesson. There is never one that the Lord sends to be witnesses in the world of Christ, of his cross and passion, of his resurrection, of the mercies and graces that pass all understanding, flowing from his passion and resurrection, but, either in one measure or other, he will have them decored with heavenly revelation, with power even to go down to the secret thoughts of men's hearts, and to lay them open to them, that they may see their own vile hearts, (for our hearts are not known, not to our own selves, until we go down and pull off the veil off them,) and all to this end, that we may see God in that person that speaks; and the last end is this, that credit be given to that gracious word; and should the word of life pass without credit? Paul, 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25, says, If a prophet stand up to prophesy, or a preacher to preach, and if an ignorant person come in, loadened with sin, and not feeling the burden, (alas! there are too many of this sort,) if this person come in, with the force of the word he is dejected, and he falls down and

glorifies God, and he will say, "God is with that man that speaks," and if God were not with that man that speaks, the heart of the man would never be dejected. No, all the kings under the sun could never deject the heart of the poorest beggar. So, to end this in a word. The Lord will know well whom he sends to speak these glorious tidings, that Christ hath suffered and is risen; and this is sure, these that he sends, he will give them power to pull down, if it were the heart of a king, to the ground.

Yet the style he gives to Christ would not be past by. Mark it well; he says not, "I know ye seek Jesus, the Son of God;" he says not so; but he 66 says, I know ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was lately crucified." So the angel, in styling of him, gives him the basest and vilest of names that he can. He names him, from a silly town in Jewry, "Jesus of Nazareth;" then from that vile death of the 66 cross, That man that was crucified." I doubt not, but in this name he had a respect to the women, who knew these styles which he had in the days of his flesh when he was conversant here. They knew these styles better than the styles of his Godhead, which were from all eternity. Yet he hath a further respect to these styles, to let us and these women see that he was not ashamed of his infirmity, nor at the shameful death of the cross. No, the angels to whom this death appertains not so much as to us, (says Peter, in his First Epistle, the first chapter and the twelfth verse,) delight to look into Christ, to look into that infirmity, and to that death of the cross. Alas, proud sinner! wilt thou be offended to look into it, when Peter says, it is the delight of the holy angels to look into it, because these angels, in the infirmity of Christ they saw the power of God shining; in that foolishness of the cross of Christ, they saw that wisdom of God; and in that justice of God they found a passing mercy? And, therefore, now and everlastingly, their delight is to look into Christ and his suffering, and as they delight to look into Christ and his suffering, so they shall give praise unto him; and more for that than for the making of the world in his great wisdom and power.

Yet if we will weigh and consider well, we shall find another re

spect which the angels have in naming him after such base styles, which is, that the glory of his resurrection might appear the greater. It is even as if he should have said, "Jesus, of that sober village, Nazareth, who was counted vile in the world and was crucified, yet for that infirmity he is risen again, and is in the glory of the heavens." So he names him after these base styles to enlarge the glory of his resurrection; for the humbler that he was, the resurrection was the more glorious. It was, indeed, a great matter and a wonder, to see a man, a worm trodden' by the devil, trodden on by death, (it was a wonder to see him how he was humbled,) that he should have risen again to such a wondrous glory, so that "at the name of Jesus all knees shall bow," Philip. chap. ii. verse 10. But I leave this, and I go forward.

Next come on the tidings. The words of Matthew are these: first, "He is not here;" then the next words, "He is risen." The first word was a heavy word to these holy women; for apparently they conceived with Mary Magdalene that his body was stolen away out of the sepulchre, and thought not that he was risen again. The next word they hear comforts them. The first word makes them exceeding heavy, but the second word makes them to rejoice, when he says, "He is risen, he is not stolen away craftily, but by his own power he is risen."

In this annunciation, as in a picture, ye may observe the form which is used in proponing the evangel and glad tidings of salvation. The beginning is always in dolour and sadness, but the end is in joy and gladness. The first word that we hear is, that the Lord is come into the world, and suffered shame, reproaches, and ignominy, and, at last, the shameful death of the cross, under Pontius Pilate. These are heavy tidings to us, to hear that our Lord was so hardly and so evil entreated in the world, and that in end, he died the vile death of the cross for us, and was buried. And yet immediately it follows, that the same Lord is risen and ascended up in glory to the heavens, and there sits at the right hand of God;

1 In original, trcade.