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were more profperous than his beginning. But he knew that he must go the way of all the earth, that his body grave, and return to duft.

muft lie in the But he expected

a future time after his diffolution, when in the flesh, for himself, and with his own eyes, he should see God. The expreffions are ftrong and repeated. He does not speak the language of hefitation and doubt, but of confidence and certainty. It likewise appears that he placed his ultimate happiness in seeing God. His words are not very different from those of the apoftle, When he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. To behold the glory of God, as our Redeemer, to be in a state of favour and communion with him, and according to the utmost capacity of our nature, to be conformed to him, in holiness and love; is that felicity which God has promised, and to which all his fervants afpire. Some foretaftes of it they enjoy in the prefent life, which cheer them under their trials, and raise them above the groveling pursuits of thofe, who have their portion only in this world; but their chief poffeffion is in hope. * 1 John iii. 2.

They

They look forward to a brighter period, when they shall awaken from the fleep of death, to behold his face in righteoufnefs*. Then, and not till then, they fhall be completely fatisfied. The expectation of Job, therefore, affords a sufficient proof, that the doctrines of an immortal ftate, and of a refurrection unto life, were included in the revelations which God afforded to his people in the earliest times, and, confequently, that the religion, of the Old Teftament and of the New, is fubftantially the fame.

The great inquiry this fubject fhould imprefs upon us, is, Are we thus minded? What think you, my dear friends, of Chrift? Have you accepted him as your Redeemer. And have you a good hope that you fhall fee him to your comfort, when he shall return to judge the world? If fo, you may rejoice. Changes you must expect. You must die, and your flesh must be food for worms. But he has promised to change our vile bodies, that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty power whereby he is able to fubdue all things unto bimfelf.

* Pf. xvii. 15.

+ Phil. iii. 21.

R 4

SER

SERMON XL,

THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED.

I COR. XV. 20.

But now is Chrift risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that flept.

S in the animal economy, the action

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of the heart and of the lungs, though very different, are equally neceffary for the maintenance of life, and we cannot say that either of them, is more effentially requifite, than the other; fo in the fyftem of divine revelation, there are some truths, the knowledge and belief of which, fingly confidered, are fundamentals, with refpect to the falvation of a finner. And though they are distinct in themselves, we cannot determine which

of

of them is of most importance to us; for unless we know, approve, and receive them all, we can have no experience of a life of faith in the Son of God. Such, for instance, is the fcriptural doctrine concerning the depravity of human nature. This is a first principle; for unless we understand what our state is in the fight of God, the enormity of our tranfgreffions, and our incapacity for true happiness, until our hearts are changed by the power of his grace, we cannot rightly understand a fingle chapter in the Bible. Such, likewife, is the doctrine of the atoneFor if we could know how totally we are loft, without knowing the gracious method which God has appointed for our recovery, we must, unavoidably, fink into despair. Again, if we were fenfible of our ftate, as finners, and even if we trufted in Christ for falvation, yet the apoftle observes, in this chapter, that unless he be indeed rifen from the dead, our faith in him would be in vain, and we should ftill be in our fins. The refurrection of Chrift, therefore, is a doctrine, abfolutely effential to our hope and comfort and it is likewife a fure pledge, that they who believe in him, fhall be raised

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