St. John, the other from St. Peter. The first account we hear of it is from Polycarp, in his Journey to the Roman Bishop Anicetus, by reason of some questions raised about Easter-day. So, Jerom and Eusebius. Polycarp was St. John's disciple, and when Anicetus endeavoured to gain him over to the Western usage, his answer was, he would never desert that custom which he had received from St. John. That the celebration of this day was apostolical, is a truth as radiant as if it were written with the beams of the sun, and needs no other demonstration than the consideration, how early this question invaded the Church'."

I.-The resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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"REMEMBER that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my Gospel 2 !” Such was the admonition of the great St. Paul to his favoured and truly pious disciple Timothy; such, may every believing son of so great a master continue to receive on this high day, commemorating the crowning mercy of the Gospel! Remember! who can forget an event so distinguishing in the history of our holy faith; so full of comfort and consolation, so fruitful of spiritual confidence and hope, so grateful, and yet so astounding to the natural feelings of the soul?

1 L'Estrange's Alliance of Divine Offices, p. 143.

2 2 Tim. ii. 8.

That these should be the effects of a contemplation on the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, can be no wonder to those who are duly impressed with the apostle's reasoning:-" if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins1;" yet unredeemed, destitute of a Mediator, death is yet unconquered-you are still under the power of evil. This connects the resurrection of Christ with the fundamental doctrine of the redemption, so universally inculcated in the Scripture of truth, and so essentially necessary to the salvation of man. It was not, however, the death of Christ, considered merely as an act of nature, or even his resurrection, under natural circumstances, which confers an intrinsic value either on one or the other, but it was the whole range of his existence in the world, the original destination of the Almighty, the motive of his death, and the triumph of his resurrection, which point the inestimable interest which every man possesses in his Saviour, and which he never could have inherited by any other means, or from any other quarter. The resurrection of Christ, therefore, solves the great mystery of human nature, and connects it with the divine. Notwithstanding the corrupt and vicious principles inherent in the nature of man, a faith and an obedience under the discipline of a spiritual Lord, repel the evil and accept the good: not surely, from any thing in himself, weak

and imperfect as we must acknowledge him to be in all his movements, but in, and by his revealed Saviour, who was delivered to death by his Father for an expiation of our offences, but was raised again for our justification" for the assurance of the remission of our sins, and of a second life to come to them that believe. But yet more properly, we are said to be justified by his resurrection, because he was then justified, that is, declared righteous, and freed from our sin that he had taken upon him. So that, he dying only for our offences, we were also then justified from our offences when God quitted him of the punishment of death. Besides that the mission of the Holy Spirit, by virtue of his resurrection, enabled us to perform the condition of our justification 1.” "Christ hath also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit"." "Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."

The resurrection of our blessed Lord being so plainly and historically detailed by the inspired writers of the Gospels, and so incontrovertibly established by the deductions of the learned in every age since the

1 Bp. Fell in locum. Rom. iv. 25.

21 Pet. iii. 18.

31 Tim. iii. 16.

Scriptures, and

That they are

"When we were

1

days of the apostles, it seems unnecessary in this place to repeat the argument. But as some have believed in the resurrection, who have found difficulties in connecting it with the great doctrine of atonement, it became our duty to search the inquire whether these things are so? so, the Scripture is rich in instances. dead in sins, God quickened us together with Christ 1.” "In Christ shall all be made alive "." That I may "be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection "." "If we be planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him "."

3

Is it not then with peculiar satisfaction that we contemplate the triumph of our blessed Lord over death and the grave, and follow him in heart and mind to those holy and happy regions where he reigns in powerful majesty at the right hand of the most high? The fast of Lent," said a father of the Church, signifies the present troublesome life, and Easter signifies eternal happiness and rest."-A comparison of

66

The

our own state in the present scene of mortal existence, with that which is promised to the righteous, through the blessed Leader of the way, excites feelings too warm for expression; and indeed, when we fairly and dispassionately canvass our own pretensions, depresses our minds far below their expected level, and covers us with sorrow, shame and mortification. We see indeed Christ in glory-but where are we? Contending for a station, for which we are wholly unprepared and should continue so for ever, were it not for him who bore the burthen of the day for us. prophetic vision of Isaiah gives us a lively picture of his approach. "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with died garments from Bozrah; this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save1." Oh! Oh! may the expression mighty to save, reveal to our benighted souls the gladdening beam of the blessed Sun of Righteousness; and while we contemplate the Lord of the resurrection risen-risen to light, life, and immortality—our dejected hearts may be strengthened by the power of his Spirit, and what we now hope for, may we then receive in all the fulness of his celestial glory!

The doctrine of the resurrection of Christ, therefore, is an essential doctrine of the Gospel, and involves every fine hope, every delightful prospect of