Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

IV. Of the Resurrection of Christ. CHRIST did truly rise again from death,

:

• It is declared very apparently and manifestly, by his oft appearance to sundry persons at sundry times.

First, he sent his angels to the sepulchre, who did shew unto certain women the empty grave; saving that the burial linen remained therein. (Matt. xxviii. 5, 6.) And by these signs were these women fully instructed that he was risen again; and so did they testify it openly. After this Jesus himself appeared to Mary Magdalen; (John xx. 16.); and after that to certain other women, and straight afterward he appeared to Peter; (1 Cor. xv. 5.); then to the two disciples which were going to Emmaus. He appeared to the disciples also, as they were gathered together, for fear of the Jews, the door shut. (Luke xxiv. 36.) At another time he was seen at the sea of Tiberias, of Peter and Thomas, and of other disciples, when they were fishing. (John xxi. 1, 2.) He was seen of more than five hundred brethren in the mount of Galilee; where Jesus appointed them to be by his angel, when he said, "Behold, he shall go before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him, as he hath said unto you." After this he appeared unto James; and last of all he was visibly seen of all the Apostles, at such time as he was taken up into heaven. (Acts i. 9.) Hom. xxvi.

So great is the matter of this Article-which is the ground and foundation of our whole religion-and of so great weight and importance, that it was thought worthy to keep our Saviour still on earth, forty days after he was risen from death to life, to the confirmation and establishment thereof in the hearts of his disciples. Assuredly so highly comfortable is this Article to our consciences, that it is even the very lock and key of all our Christian religion and faith. Hom. xxvi.

I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James; then of all the Apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 1 Cor. xv. 3-8. Him God raised up the third day, and shewed

him openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. Acts x. 40. To whom (the Apostles) he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Acts i. 3. The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day. Luke ix. 22. Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrec

band took again his body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of

If he had not risen he could not be thought to be the Son of God: but now rising from the dead to eternity of life, he declared a greater power of his Godhead, than if, in descending from the cross, he had fled from the terrors of death. To die certainly is common to all; and though some for a time have avoided death intended against them, yet to loose or break the bonds of death once suffered, and by his own power to rise alive again, that is the proper doing of the only Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Author of life, by which he hath shewed himself the conqueror of sin and death, yea, and of the devil himself. Nowell, p. 52.

Q. What profits bringeth it unto us that Christ rose again A. Manifold and divers. For thereof cometh to us righteousness, which before we lacked: thence cometh to us endeavour of innocency, which we call newness of life: thence cometh to us power, virtue, and strength to live well and holily: thence have we hope that our mortal bodies also shall one day be restored from death, and rise whole again. For if Christ himself had been destroyed by death, he had not been our deliverer; for what hope of safety should we have had left by him that had not saved himself? It was therefore meet for the person which the Lord did bear, and a necessary help for us to salvation, that Christ should first deliver himself from death, and afterwards that he should break and pull in sunder the bands of death for us, and so that we might set the hope of our salvation in his resurrection. For it cannot be that Christ our head, rising again, should suffer us the members of his body to be consumed and utterly destroyed by death. Nowell, p. 53.

He died to destroy the rule of the devil in us; and he rose again to send down his Holy Spirit to rule in our hearts, to endow us with perfect righteousness. Hom, xxvi.

tion from the dead. Rom. i. 4. Jesus Christ the first begotten of the dead. Rev. i. 5. Thou wilt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Ps. xvi. 10. After that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. Mark ix. 31. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Pet. i. 3. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be

saved. Rom. x. 9. If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Rom. iv. 24, 25.

Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. John xx. 27. 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. Luke xxiv. 39.

Behold my

[ocr errors]

man's nature, wherewith he ascended into hea

To this our Saviour and Mediator hath God the Father given the power of heaven and earth, and the whole jurisdiction and authority, to distribute his goods and gifts committed to him: for so writeth the Apostle, "To every one is grace given, according to the measure of Christ's giving." And thereupon to execute his authority committed, after that he had brought sin and the devil to captivity, to be no more hurtful to his members, he ascended up to his Father again, and from thence sent liberal gifts to his well-beloved servants, and hath still the power to the world's end to distribute his Father's gifts continually in his church, to the establishment and comfort thereof. And by him hath Almighty God decreed to dissolve the world, to call all before him, to judge both the quick and the dead, and finally by him shall he condemn the wicked to eternal fire in hell, and give the good eternal life, and set them assuredly in presence with him in heaven for evermore. Hom. xxix. 3.

Christ sitting on the right hand of God doth with his power, wisdom, and providence, rule and dispose the world, move, govern, and order all things, and so shall do till the frame of the world be dissolved. Nowell, p. 56.

It was meet that Christ, which from the highest degree of honour and dignity had descended to the basest estate of a servant, and to the reproach of condemnation and shameful death, should on the other side obtain most noble glory and excellent estate, even the same which he had before, that his glory and majesty might in proportion answer to his baseness and shame. Phil. ii. 8, 9, 10. Nowell, p. 55.

Christ by ascending and sitting on the right hand of his Father, hath removed and thoroughly rooted out of men's hearts that false opinion, which sometime his Apostles themselves had

Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. Rom. vi. 9. This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God. Heb. x. 12. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, &c. Phil. ii. 9, 10. While he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. Luke xxiv. 51. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. Mark xvi. 19. He raised

him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand, in the heavenly places. Eph. i. 20. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.. Rom. viii. 34. Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. John xx. 17. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Ps. cx. 1.

Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things. Acts iii. 21.

ven, and there sitteth, until he 'return to judge all men at the last day.

conceived, namely, that Christ should reign visible here in earth, as other kings and worldly princes do. Nowell, p. 57.

Q. What profit take we of his ascending into heaven, and sitting on the right hand of his Father? A. First, Christ, as he had descended to the earth, as into banishment for our sake: so when he went up into heaven, his Father's inheritance, he entered in our name, making us a way and entry thither, and opening us the gate of heaven, which was before shut against us for sin for sith Christ our head hath carried with him our flesh into heaven, so mighty and loving a head will not leave us for ever in earth, that are members of his body. Moreover he being present in the sight of God, and commending us unto him, and making intercession for us, is the patron of our cause, who being our advocate, our matter shall not quail. Nowell, p. 55.

a Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven with high glory, and at the sound of the trumpet, all the dead that have lived from the creation of the world to that day, shall rise again with their souls and bodies whole and perfect, and shall appear before his throne to be judged, every one for himself, to give account of their life, which shall be examined by the uncorrupted and severe Judge according to the truth. Nowell, p. 60.

Q. Ought the godly at thinking upon this judgment to be strickened and abashed with fear, and to dread it, and shrink from it? A. No. For He shall give the sentence, which was once by the judge's sentence condemned for us, to the end that we, coming under the grievous judgment of God, should not be condemned but acquitted in judgment. He, I say, shall pronounce the judgment, in whose faith and protection we are, and which hath taken upon him the defence of our cause. Nowell, p. 61.

Moreover, he came in flesh, and in the self-same flesh ascended into heaven, to declare and testify unto us, that all faithful people which stedfastly believe in him, shall likewise come unto the same mansion-place, whereunto he, being our Chief Captain, is gone before. Hom. xxiv.

Whatsoever things he hath done, he hath done them all for our benefit, even so far that they be as much our own, (so that with stedfast and lively faith we cleave unto them) as if we ourselves had done them. He was crucified, and we also are crucified with him, and our sins punished in him. He died, and

J When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations. Matt. xxv. 31, 32. We must all appear before the judg

ment-seat of Christ; that every
one may receive the things done in
his body. 2 Cor. v. 10.
He com-
manded us to preach unto the
people, and to testify that it is He
which was ordained of God to be
the Judge of quick and dead. Acts

was buried. We also, together with our sins, are dead and buried, and that so as all the remembrance of our sins is for ever forgotten. He rose from death, and we also are risen again with him, being so made partakers of his resurrection and life, that from thenceforth death hath no more dominion over us. For in us is the same Spirit which raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Finally, beside that since his ascension we have most abundantly received the gifts of the Holy Ghost, he hath also lifted and carried us up into heaven with him, that we might as it were with our head take possession thereof. These things indeed are not yet seen, but then shall they be brought abroad into light, when Christ, which is the light of the world, in whom all our hope and wealth is set and settled, shining with immortal glory, shall shew himself openly to all men. Nowell, p. 58.

When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father. We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge. Liturgy.

x. 42. The Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son. He hath given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man. John v. 22, 27. He hath appointed a day, in the which

he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Acts xvii. 31.

« AnteriorContinuar »