1.—WHATSOEVER variations have appeared in any of the other Articles, this
part of Christ’s resurrection hath been constantly delivered without
the least alteration, either by way of addition or diminutions. The whole
matter of it is so necessary and essential to the Christian faith,
that nothing of it could be omitted; and in these few expressions the whole
doctrine is so clearly delivered, that nothing needed to be added. At the
first view we are presented with three particulars: First, the action
itself, or the resurrection of Christ, He rose again.
Secondly, the verity, reality, and propriety of that resurrection, He
rose from the dead. Thirdly, the circumstance of time, or distance of
his resurrection from his death, he rose from the dead the third day.
[He rose again]
2.—For the illustration of the first particular, and the justification of
our belief in Christ’s resurrection, it will be necessary, first, to
show the promised Messias was to rise from the dead; and secondly,
that Jesus, whom we believe to be the true and only Messias,
did so rise as it was promised and foretold. As the Messias was to
be the son of David, so was he particularly typified by him and
promised unto him. Great were the oppositions which David suffered
both by his own people and by the nations round about him; which he
expressed of himself, and foretold of the Messias in those words,
The kings of the earth sit themselves, and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against his anointed, that is, his Christ.
From whence it came to pass, that against the holy child Jesus, whom God
had anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the
people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatsoever the hand and the
counsel of God determined before to be done, which was to crucify and
slay the Lord of life. But notwithstanding all this opposition and
persecution, it was spoken of David, and foretold of the Son of
David, Yet have I set mine anointed upon my holy hill of Sion. I
will declare the decree, the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this
day have I begotten thee. As therefore the persecution in respect of
David amounted only to a depression of him, and therefore his exaltation
was a settling in the kingdom; so being the conspiration against the
Messias amounted to a real crucifixion and death, therefore the
exaltation must include a resurrection. And being he which riseth from the
dead, begins as it were to live another life, and the grave to him is in the
manner of a womb to bring him forth, therefore when God said of his
anointed, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, he did
foretell and promise that he would raise the Messias from death to
life.
3.—But because this prediction was something obscured in the figurative
expression, therefore the Spirit of God hath cleared it further by the same
Prophet, speaking by the mouth of David, but such words as are
agreeable not to the person, but the Son, of David, My flesh shall
rest in hope; for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou
suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. As for the patriarch David,
he is both dead and buried, and his flesh consumed in his sepulchre;
but being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath, to him,
that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh he would raise up
Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection
of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see
corruption. They were both to be separated by his death, and each to be
disposed in that place which was respectively appointed for them; but
neither long to continue there, the body not to be detained in the grave,
the soul not to be left in hell, but both to meet, and being reunited to
rise again.
Again, lest any might imagine that the Messias dying once might rise
from death, and living after death, yet die again, there was a further
prophecy to assure us of the excellency of that resurrection and the
perpetuity of that life to which the Messias was to be raised. For
God giving this promise to his people, I wilt make an everlasting
covenant with you, (of which the Messias was to be the Mediator,
and to ratify it by his death,) and adding this expression, even the sure
mercies of David, could signify no less than that the Christ,
who was given first unto us in a frail and mortal condition, in which he was
to die, should afterwards be given in an immutable state, and consequently
that he being dead should rise unto eternal life. And thus by virtue of
these three predictions we are assured that the Messias was to rise
again, as also by those types which did represent and presignify the same
Joseph, who was ordained to save his brethren from death who would have
slain him, did represent the Son of God, who was slain by us, and yet dying
saved us; and his being in the dungeon typified Christ’s death; his
being taken out from thence represented his resurrection; as his evection to
the power of Egypt next to Pharaoh, signified the session of
Christ at the right hand of his Father. Isaac was sacrificed,
and yet lived, to show that Christ should truly die, and truly live
again. And Abraham offered him up, accounting that God was able to
raise him up even from the dead, from whence also He received him in a
figure. In Abraham’s intention Isaac died, in his expectation
he was to rise from the dead, in his acceptation being spared he was
received from the dead, and all this acted to presignify, that the only Son
of God was really and truly to be sacrificed and die, and after death was
really and truly to be raised to life. What was the intention of our father
Abraham not performed, that was the resolution of our heavenly Father
and fulfilled. And thus the resurrection of the Messias was
represented by types, and foretold by prophecies, and therefore the
Christ was to rise from the dead.
4.—That Jesus, whom we believe to be the true and only Messias,
did rise from the dead according to the Scriptures, is a certain and
infallible truth, delivered unto us, and confirmed by testimonies human,
angelical, and divine. Those pious women which thought with sweet spices to
anoint him dead, found him alive, held him by the feet and worshipped him,
and as the first preachers of his resurrection, with fear and great joy ran
to bring his Disciples word. The blessed Apostles follow them, to whom
also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs:
who with great power gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
the principal part of whose office consisted in this testimony, as appeareth
upon the election of Matthias into the place of Judas,
grounded upon this necessity. Wherefore of these men which have companied
with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, must one
be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. The rest of
the Disciples testified the same, to whom he also appeared, even to five
hundred brethren at once. These were the witnesses of his own family,
of such as worshipped him, such as believed in him. And because the
testimony of an adversary is in such cases thought of greatest validity, we
have not only his Disciples, but even his enemies to confirm it. Those
soldiers that watched at the sepulchre, and pretended to keep his body from
the hands of his Apostles; they which felt the earth trembling under them,
and saw the countenance of an angel like lightning, and his raiment white
as snow; they who upon that sight did shake and became as dead
men, while he whom they kept became alive; even some of these came
into the city and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were
done. Thus was the resurrection of Christ confirmed by the
highest human testimonies, both of his friends and enemies, of his followers
and revilers.
5.—But so great, so necessary, so important a mystery had need of a more
firm and higher testimony than that of man: and therefore an angel from
heaven, who was ministerial in it, gave a present and infallible witness to
it. He descended down, and came and rolled back the stone from the door,
and sat upon it. Nay, two angels in white, sitting the one at the
head, the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain, said unto the
women, Why seek ye the living among the dead! He is not here, but is risen.
These were the witnesses sent from heaven, this the angelical testimony of
the resurrection.
And
if we receive the witness of men, or angels, the witness of God is
greater, who did sufficiently attest this resurrection; not only because
there was no other power but that of God which could effect it, but as our
Saviour himself said, the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the
Father, He shall testify of me; adding these words to his Apostles,
and ye shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
The Spirit of God sent down upon the Apostles did thereby testify that
Christ was risen, because he sent that Spirit from the Father; and
the Apostles witnessed together with that Spirit, because they were
enlightened, comforted, confirmed, and strengthened in their testimony by
the same Spirit. Thus God raised up Jesus, and showed him openly;
not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to
those who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.
And thus, as it was foretold of the Messias, did our Jesus
rise; which was the first part of our inquiry.
[He rose from the dead]
6.—For the second, concerning the reality and propriety of Christ’s
resurrection, expressed in that term, from the dead, it will be necessary
first to consider what are the essential characters and proprieties of a
true resurrection; and secondly, to show how those proprieties do belong and
are agreeable to the raising of Christ. The proper notion of the
resurrection consists in this, that it is a substantial change by which that
which was before, and was corrupted, is reproduced the same thing again. It
is said to be a change, that it may be distinguished from a second or new
creation. For if God should annihilate a man or angel, and make the same
man or angel out of nothing, though it were a restitution of the same thing,
yet were it not properly a resurrection, because it is not a change or
proper mutation, but a pure and total production. This change is called a
substantial change, to distinguish it from all accidental alterations: he
which awaketh from his sleep ariseth from his bed, and there is a greater
change from sickness to health; but neither of these is a resurrection. It
is called a change of that which was, and hath been corrupted, because
things immaterial and incorruptible cannot be said to rise again;
resurrection implying a reproduction; and that which after it was, never was
not, cannot be reproduced. And, of those things which are material and
corruptible, of some the forms continue and subsist after the corruption of
the whole, of others not. The forms of inanimate bodies, and all irrational
souls, when they are corrupted, cease to be; and therefore if they should be
reproduced out of the same matter, yet were not this a proper resurrection,
because thereby there would not be the same individual which was before, but
only a restitution of the species by another individual. But when a
rational soul is separated from its body, which is the corruption of a man,
that soul so separated doth exist, and consequently is capable of
conjunction and reunion with the body; and if these two be again united by
an essential and vital union, from which life doth necessarily flow, then
doth the same man live which lived before; and consequently this reunion is
a perfect and proper resurrection from death to life, because the same
individual person, consisting of the same soul and body, which was dead, is
now alive again.
7.—Having thus delivered the true nature of a proper resurrection we shall
easily demonstrate that Christ did truly and properly rise from the
dead. For, first, by a true though miraculous generation he was made flesh;
and lived in his human nature a true and proper life, producing vital
actions as we do. Secondly, he suffered a true and proper dissolution at
his death; his soul being really separated, and his body left without the
least vitality, as our dead bodies are. Thirdly, the same soul was reunited
to the same body, and so he lived again the same man. For the truth of
which, two things were necessary to be shown upon his appearing after death;
the one concerning the verity, the other concerning the identity, of his
body. All the Apostles doubted of the first; for when Christ stood
in the midst of them, they were affrighted, and supposed that they
had seen a spirit. But he sufficiently assured them of the verity of
his corporeity, saying, Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh
and bones, as ye see me have. He convinced them all of the identity of
his body, saying, Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself;
especially unbelieving 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. The body then in which he rose must be the
same in which he lived before, because it was the same with which he died.
8.—And that we might be assured of the soul as well as of the body, first,
he gave an argument of the vegetative and nutritive faculty, saying unto
them, Have ye here any meat? and they gave him a piece of a broiled fish,
and of an honeycomb; and he took it and did eat before them. Secondly,
of the sensitive part, conversing with them, showing himself, seeing and
hearing them. Thirdly, he gave evidence of his rational and intellectual
soul, by speaking to them and discoursing out of the Scriptures, concerning
those things which he spake unto them while he was yet with them.
Thus did he show, that the body which they saw was truly and vitally
informed with an human soul. And that they might be yet further assured
that it was the same soul by which that body lived before, he gave a full
testimony of his Divinity by the miracle which he wrought in the multitude
of fishes caught, by breathing on the Apostles the Holy Ghost, and by
ascending into heaven in the sight of his Disciples. For being no man
ascended into heaven but he which came down from heaven, the Son of man
which was in heaven, being the Divinity was never so united to any human
soul but only in that person, it appeared to be the same soul with which he
lived and wrought all the miracles before. To conclude, being Christ
appeared after his death with the same body in which he died, and with the
same soul united to it, it followeth that he rose from the dead by a
true and proper resurrection.
9.—Moreover, that the verity and propriety of Christ’s resurrection
may further appear, it will be necessary to consider the cause thereof, by
what power and by whom it was effected. And if we look upon the meritorious
cause, we shall find it to be Christ himself. For he by his
voluntary sufferings in his life, and exact obedience at his death, did
truly deserve to be raised unto life again. Because he drunk of
the brook in the way, because he humbled Himself unto death, even to
the death of the cross, therefore was it necessary that he should be
exalted, and the first degree of his exaltation was his resurrection. Now
being Christ humbled himself to the sufferings both of soul and body;
being whatsoever suffered, the same by the virtue and merit of his passion
was to be exalted; being all other degree of exaltation supposed that of the
resurrection; it followeth from the meritorious cause that Christ did
truly rise from the dead with the same soul and the same body, with which he
lived united, and died separated.
10.—The efficient cause of the resurrection of Christ is to be
considered either as principal or instrumental. The principal cause was God
himself; for no other power but that which is omnipotent can raise the
dead. It is an act beyond the activity of any creature, and in
proportionate to the power of any finite agent. This Jesus hath God
raised up, saith the Apostle, whereof we all are witnesses. And
generally in the Scriptures as our, so Christ’s resurrection is
attributed unto God; and as we cannot hope after death to rise to life again
without the activity of an infinite and irresistible power, no more did
Christ himself, who was no otherwise raised than by an eminent act of
God’s omnipotency; which is excellently set forth by the Apostle, in so high
an exaggeration of expressions, as I think is scarce to be paralleled in any
author, That we may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to
us-ward who believe, according to the working of the might of his power
which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him up from the dead. Being
then omnipotency is a Divine attribute, and infinite power belongs to God
alone; being no less power than infinite could raise our Saviour from the
dead; it followeth, that whatsoever instrumental action might concur, God
must be acknowledged the principal agent.
And
therefore in the Scriptures the raising of Christ is attributed to
God the Father (according to those words of the apostle Paul, an
apostle, not of men, neither by men, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father
who raised him from the dead), but is not attributed to the Father
alone. For to whomsoever that infinite power doth belong, by which
Christ was raised, that person must be acknowledged to have raised him.
And because we have already proved that the eternal Son of God is of the
same essence, and consequently of the same power with the Father, and shall
hereafter show the same true also of the Holy Ghost, therefore we must
likewise acknowledge that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost raised Christ
from the dead. Nor is this only true by virtue of this ratiocination, but
it is also delivered expressly of the Son, and that by himself. It is a
weak fallacy used by the Socinians, who maintain, that God the Father only
raised Christ, and then say they teach as much as the Apostles did,
who attribute it always either generally unto God, or particularly to the
Father. For if the Apostles taught it only so, yet if he which taught the
Apostles taught us something more, we must make that also part of our
belief. They believe the Father raised Christ, because St. Paul hath
taught them so, and we believe the same; they will not believe that
Christ did raise himself, but we must also believe that, because he hath
said so. These were his words unto the Jews, Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up; and this is the explication of the
Apostle, But he spake of the temple of his body, which he might very
properly call a temple, because the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him
bodily. And when he was risen from the dead, his disciples
remembered that he had said this unto them, and they believed the Scripture,
and the word that Jesus had said. Now if upon the resurrection of
Christ the apostles believed those words of Christ, Destroy
this temple, and I will raise it up, then did they believe that
Christ raised himself; for in those words there is a person mentioned
which raised Christ, and no other person mentioned but himself.
A
strange opposition they make to the evidence of this argument, saying, that
God the Father raised Christ to life, and Christ being raised
to life did lift and raise his body out of the grave, as the man sick of the
palsy raised himself from the bed, or as we shall raise ourselves out of the
graves when the trump should sound; and this was all which Christ did
or could do. But if this were true, and nothing else were to be understood
in those words of our Saviour, he might as well have said, Destroy this
temple, and in three days any one of you may raise it up. For when life
was restored unto it by God, anyone of them might have lifted it up, and
raised it out of the grave and have shown it alive.
This
answer therefore is a mere shift: for to raise a body which is dead, is, in
the language of the Scriptures to give life unto it, or to quicken a mortal
body. For as the Father raised up the dead and quickeneth them, even so
the Son quickeneth whom He will. He then which quickeneth the dead
bodies of others when he raiseth them, he also quickened his own body when
he raised that. The temple is supposed here to be dissolved, and being so
to be raised again; therefore the suscitation must answer to the
dissolution. But the temple of Christ’s body was dissolved when his
soul was separated, nor was it any other way dissolved than by that
separation. God suffered not his Holy One to see corruption, and therefore
the parts of his body, in respect of each to other, suffered no
dissolution. Thus as the apostle desired to be dissolved and to be with
Christ, so the temple of Christ’s body was dissolved here, by the
separation of his soul: for the temple standing was the body living; and
therefore the raising of the dissolved temple was the quickening of the
body. If the body of Christ had been laid down in the sepulchre
alive, the temple had not been dissolved; therefore to lift it up out of the
sepulchre when it was before quickened, was not to raise a dissolved temple,
which our Saviour promised he would do, and the Apostles believed he did.
Again, it is most certainly false that our Saviour had power only to lift up
his body when it was revived, but had no power of himself to reunite his
soul unto his body, and thereby to revive it. For Christ speaketh
expressly of himself, I lay down my life (or soul) that I
might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of
myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
The laying down of Christ’s life was to die, and the taking of it
again was to revive; and by this taking of his life again he showed himself
to be the resurrection and the life. For he which was made of the seed
of David according to the flesh, was declared to be the Son of God with
power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the
dead. But if Christ had done no more in the resurrection, than
lifted up his body when it was revived, he had done that which any other
person might have done, and so had not declared himself to be the Son of God
with power. It remaineth therefore that Christ, by that power which
he had within himself, did take his life again which he had laid down, did
reunite his soul unto his body, from which he separated it when he gave up
the ghost, and so did quicken and revive himself; and so it is a certain
truth, not only that God the Father raised the Son, but also that God the
Son raised himself.
11.—From this consideration of the efficient cause of Christ’s
resurrection, we are yet farther assured, that Christ did truly and
properly rise from the dead in the same soul and the same body. For if we
look upon the Father, it is beyond all controversy that he raised his own
Son: and as while he was here alive, God spake from heaven, saying, This
is my well-beloved Son; so after his death it was the same person, of
whom he spake by the Prophet, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee. If we look upon Christ himself, and consider him with
power to raise himself, there can be no greater assurance that he did
totally and truly rise in soul and body by that Divinity which was never
separated either from the body or from the soul. And thus we have
sufficiently proved our second particular, the verity, reality, and
propriety of Christ’s resurrection, contained in those words, He
rose from the dead.
[The third day]
12.—The third particular concerns the time of Christ’s resurrection,
which is expressed by the third day: and those words afford a double
consideration; one in respect of the distance of time, as it was after three
days; the other in respect of the day, which was the third day from his
passion, and the precise day upon which he rose. For the first of these, we
shall show that the Messias, who was foretold both to die and to rise
again, was not to rise before, and was to rise upon, the third day after his
death; and that in correspondence to these predictions, our Jesus,
whom we believe to be the true Messias, did not rise from the dead
until, and did rise from the dead upon, the third day.
13.—The typical predictions of this truth were two, answering to our two
considerations; one in reference to the distance, the other in respect of
the day itself. The first is that of the prophet Jonas, who was
in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, and then by
the special command of God he was rendered safe upon the dry land, and sent
a preacher of repentance to the great city of Nineveh. This was an
express type of the Messias then to come, who was to preach
repentance and remission of sins to all nations; that as Jonas was three
days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so should the Son of man be
three days and three nights in the heart of the earth: and as he was
restored alive unto the dry land again, so should the Messias, after
three days, be taken out of the jaws of death, and restored unto the land of
the living.
The
type in respect of the day was the waved sheaf in the feast of the
first-fruits, concerning which this was the law of God by Moses: When he
come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest
thereof, then he shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest
unto the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted
for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye
shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he-lamb without blemish of
the first year for a burnt offering unto the Lord. For under the
Levitical Law, all the fruits of the earth in the land of Canaan were
profane; none might eat of them till they were consecrated; and that they
were in the feast of the first-fruits. One sheaf was taken out of the field
and brought to the priest, who lifted it up as it were in the name of all
the rest, waving it before the Lord, and it was accepted for them; so that
all the sheaves in the field were holy by the acceptation of that. For
if the first-fruits be holy, the lump is also holy. And this was
always done the day after the sabbath, that is, the paschal solemnity, after
which the fulness of the harvest followed: by which thus much was foretold
and represented, that as the sheaf was lifted up and waved, and the lamb was
offered on that day by the priest to God, so the promised Messias,
that immaculate Lamb which was to die, that Priest which dying was to offer
up himself to God, was upon this day to be lifted up and raised from the
dead, or rather to shake and lift up and present himself to God, and so to
be accepted for us all, that so our dust might be sanctified, our corruption
hallowed, our mortality consecrated to eternity. Thus was the resurrection
of the Messias after death typically represented both in the distance
and the day.
And
now, in reference to both resemblances, we shall clearly show that our
Jesus, whom we believe, and have already proved to be the true
Messias, was so long and no longer dead, as to rise the third day;
and did so order the time of his death, that the third day on which he rose
might be that very day on which the sheaf was waved, the day after that
sabbath mentioned in the Law.
14.—As for the distance between the resurrection and the death of Christ,
it is to be considered, first, generally in itself, as it is some space of
time; secondly, as it is that certain and determinate space of three days.
Christ did not, would not, suddenly arise, lest any should doubt that
he ever died. It was as necessary for us that he should die, as that he
should live; and we, which are to believe them both, were to be assured as
well of the one as of the other. That therefore we may be ascertained of
his death, he did some time continue it. He might have descended from the
cross before he died; but he would not, because he had undertaken to die for
us. He might have revived himself upon the cross after he had given up the
ghost, and before Joseph came to take him down; but he would not,
lest as Pilate questioned whether he were already dead, so we might
doubt whether he ever died. The reward of his resurrection was immediately
due upon his passion, but he deferred the receiving of it, lest either of
them being questioned, they both might lose their efficacy and intended
operation. It was therefore necessary that some space should intercede
between them.
Again, because Christ’s exaltation was due unto his humiliation, and
the first step of that was his resurrection; because the Apostles after his
death were to preach repentance and remission of sins through his blood, who
were no way qualified to preach any such doctrine till he rose again;
because the Spirit could not be sent till he ascended, and he could not
ascend into heaven till he rose from the grave; therefore the space between
his resurrection and passion could not be long; nor can there be any reason
assigned why it should any longer be deferred, when the verity of his death
was once sufficiently proved. Lest therefore his Disciples should be long
held in suspense, or any person after many days should doubt whether he rose
with the same body with which he died, or no; that he might show himself
alive while the soldiers were watching at his grave, and while his
crucifixion was yet in the mouths of the people, he would not stay many days
before he rose. Some distance then of time there was, but not great,
between his crucifixion and his resurrection.
15.—The particular length of this space is determined in the third day:
but that expression being capable of some diversity of interpretation, it is
not so easily concluded how long our Saviour was dead or buried before he
revived or rose again. It is written expressly in St. Matthew, that as
Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so should the
Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
From whence it seemeth to follow, that Christ’s body was for the
space of three whole days and three whole nights in the grave, and after
that space of time rose from thence. And hence some have conceived, that
being our Saviour rose on the morning of the first day of the week,
therefore it must necessarily follow that he died and was buried on the
fifth day of the week before, that is on Thursday; otherwise it cannot be
true that he was in the grave three nights.
But
this place, as express as it seems to be, must be considered with the rest
in which the same truth is delivered: as when our Saviour said, After
three days I will rise again; and again, Destroy this temple, and in
three days I will build it up, or, within three days I will build
another made without hands. But that which is most used, both in our
Saviour’s prediction before his death, and in the Apostle’s language after
the resurrection, is, that he rose from the dead the third day. Now
according to the language of the Scriptures, if Christ were slain and
rose the third day, the day in which he died is one, and the day on which he
rose is another, and consequently there could be but one day and two nights
between the day of his death and of his resurrection. As in the case of
circumcision, the male child eight days old was to be circumcised, in which
the day on which the child was born was one, and the day on which he was
circumcised was another, and so there were but six complete days between the
day of his birth and the day of his circumcision. The day of Pentecost was
the fiftieth day from the day of the wave-offering; but in the number of the
fifty days was both the day of the wave-offering and of Pentecost included;
as now among the Christians still it is. Whitsunday is now the day of
Pentecost, and Easter-day the day of the resurrection, answering to that of
the wave-offering; but both these must be reckoned to make the number of
fifty days. Christ then, who rose upon the first day of the week,
(as is confessed by all,) died upon the sixth day of the week before: or if
he had died upon the fifth he had risen not upon the third, but the fourth
day, as Lazarus did. Being then it is most certain that our Saviour rose on
the third day; being according to the constant language of the Greeks and
Hebrews, he cannot be said to rise to life on the third day, who died upon
any other day between which and the day of his resurrection there intervened
any more than one day: therefore those other forms of speech which are far
less frequent, must be so interpreted as to be reduced to this expression of
the third day so often reiterated.
When
therefore we read that after three days he would raise the temple of his
body, we must not imagine that he would continue the space of three whole
days dead, and then revive himself; but upon the third day he would rise
again: as Joseph and his mother after three days found him in the
temple, that is, the third day after he tarried behind in Jerusalem. And
when we read, that he was three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth, we must not look upon those nights as distinct from the days, but as
Moses spake, the evening and the morning, that is, the night and the
day, was, the first day; and as the saint spake unto Daniel, Unto two
thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings, intending thereby so
many days: nor must we imagine that those three days were completed after
our Saviour’s death, and before he rose: but that upon the first of those
three days he died, and upon the last of those three days he rose. As we
find that eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child;
and yet Christ was born upon the first, and circumcised upon the last
of those eight days: nor were there any more than six whole days between the
day of his birth and the day of his circumcision; the one upon the five and
twentieth of December, the other upon the first of January.
And as the Jews were wont to speak, the priests in their courses by
the appointment of David were to minister before the Lord eight days,
whereas every week a new course succeeded, and there were but seven days’
service for each course (the sabbath on which they began, and the sabbath on
which they went off, being both reckoned in the eight days); so the day on
which the Son of God was crucified, dead, and buried, and the day on which
he revived and rose again, were included in the number three days. And thus
did our Saviour rise from the dead upon the third day properly, and was
three days and three nights in the heart of the earth synecdochically.
This
is sufficient for the clearing the precise distance of Christ’s
resurrection from his crucifixion, expressed: in the determinate number of
three days: the next consideration is, what day of the week that third day
was, on which Christ did actually rise, and what belongeth to that
day in relation to his resurrection. Two characters there are which will
evidently prove the particularity of this third day; the first is the
description of that day in respect of which this is called the third, after
the manner already delivered and confirmed; the second is the Evange1ist’s
expression of the time on which Christ rose.
16.—The character of the day in which our Saviour died is undeniable; for it
is often expressly called the preparation; as we read, they
therefore laid Jesus in the garden, because of the Jews preparation day, for
the sepulchre was nigh at hand; and the next day that followed the
preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees asked a guard. Now this day of
preparation was the day immediately before the sabbath or some other great
feast of the Jews, called by them the eve of the sabbath or the
feast; and therefore called the preparation, because on that day they did
prepare whatsoever was necessary for the celebration of the following
festival, according to that command in the case of manna, It shall come
to pass that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in,
and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. This preparation
being used both before the sabbath and other festivals, at this time it had
both relations: for first, it was the preparation to a sabbath, as appeareth
by those words of St. Mark, Now when the even was come, because it
was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath; and those of
St. Luke, That day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.
Secondly, it was also the eve of a festival, even of the great day of the
paschal solemnity, as appeareth by St. John, who saith, when
Pilate sat down to the judgment-seat, it was the preparation of the passover.
And that the great paschal festivity did then fall upon the sabbath, so that
the same day was then the preparation or eve of both, appeareth yet farther
by the same Evangelist, saying, The Jews therefore, because it was the
preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the
sabbath-day, for that sabbath-day was an high day; that is, not only an
ordinary or weekly sabbath, but also a great festival, even a paschal
sabbath. Now being the sabbath of the Jews was constant, and fixed
to the seventh day of the week, it followeth that the preparation or eve
thereof must necessarily be the sixth day of the week; which from the day,
and the infinite benefit accruing to us by the passion upon that day, we
call Good Friday. And from that day being the sixth of one, the
third must consequently be the eighth, or the first of the next week.
17.—The next character of this third day is the expression of the time of
the resurrection in the Evangelists. When the sabbath was past,
saith St. Mark, which was the day after the preparation on which he was
buried, very early in the morning, the first day of the week. In the end of
the sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week,
saith St. Matthew. Upon the first day of the week early in the morning,
saith St. Luke. The first day of the week early when it was yet dark,
saith St. John. By all which indications it appeareth that the body of
Christ being laid in the sepulchre on the day of the preparation, which
was the eve of the sabbath, and continuing there the whole sabbath
following, which was the conclusion of that week, and farther resting there
still and remaining dead the night which followed that sabbath, but belonged
to the first day of the next week, about the end of that night early in the
morning was revived by the accession and union of his soul, and rose again
out of the sepulchre.
18.—Whereby it came to pass, that the obligation of the day, which was then
the sabbath, died and was buried with him, but in a manner by a diurnal
transmutation revived again at his resurrection. Well might that day which
carried with it a remembrance of that great deliverance from the Egyptian
servitude, resign all the sanctity or solemnity due unto it, when that
morning once appeared upon which a far greater redemption was confirmed.
One day of seven was set apart by God in imitation of his rest upon the
creation of the world, and that seventh day which was sanctified to the
Jews was reckoned in relation to their deliverance from Egypt.
At the second delivery of the Law we find this particular cause assigned,
Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord
thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out
arm, therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath-day.
Now this could not be any special reason why the Jews should observe
a seventh day; first, because in reference to their redemption, the number
of seven had no more relation than any other number: secondly, because the
reason of a seventh day was before rendered in the body of the commandment
itself. There was therefore a double reason rendered by God why the Jews
should keep that sabbath which they did, one special, as to a seventh day,
to show they worshipped that God who was the Creator of the world; the other
individual, as to that seventh day, to signify their deliverance from the
Egyptian bondage, from which that seventh day was dated.
Being
then upon the resurrection of our Saviour a greater deliverance and far more
plenteous redemption was wrought than that of Egypt, and therefore a
greater observance was due unto it than to that, the individual
determination of the day did pass upon a stronger reason to another day,
always to be repeated by a seventhly return upon the reference to the
creation. As there was a change in the year at the coming out of Egypt
by the command of God; This month, the month of Abib, shall be
unto you the beginning of months, it shall be the first month of the year to
you; so at this time of a more eminent deliverance a change was wrought
in the hebdomadal or weekly account, and the first day is made the seventh,
or the seventh after that first is sanctified. The first day, because on
that Christ rose from the dead; and the seventh day from that first
for ever, because he who rose upon that day was the same God who created the
world, and rested on the seventh day: for by Him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, all things were created by Him and
for Him.
19.—This day did the Apostles from the beginning most religiously observe,
by their meeting together for holy purposes, and to perform religious
duties. The first observation was performed providentially, rather by the
design of God than any such inclination or intention of their own: for
the same day, saith the Evangelist, that is, the day on which Christ
rose from the dead, at evening, being the first day of the week,
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews. The second
observation was performed voluntarily, for after eight days again his
Disciples were within, and Thomas with them; the first day of the week,
when Christ rose by the providence of God, the disciples were
together, but Thomas was absent; upon the first day of the next week
they were all met together again in expectation of our Saviour, and
Thomas with them. Again, when the day of Pentecost was fully come,
which was also the first day of the week, they were all with one accord in
one place; and having received the promise of the Holy Ghost, they spake
with tongues, preached the gospel, and the same day were added unto them
above three thousand souls. The same practice of convening we find
continued in the following years. For upon the first day of the week,
when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them;
and the same apostle gave express command concerning the collection for the
saints both to the churches of Galatia and of Corinth; Upon
the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God
hath prospered him. From this resurrection of our Saviour, and the
constant practice of the apostles, this first day of the week came to have
the name of the Lord’s day, and is so called by St. John, who says of
himself in the Revelation, I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day.
And thus the observation of that day, which the Jews did sanctify,
ceased, and was buried with our Saviour; and in the stead of it the
religious observation of that day on which the Son of God rose from the
dead, by the constant practice of the blessed apostles, was transmitted to
the church of God, and so continued in all ages.
This
day thus consecrated by the resurrection of Christ was left as the
perpetual badge and cognizance of his Church. As God spake by Moses
to the Israelites, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a
sign between me and you throughout your generation, that ye may know that I
am the Lord that doth sanctify you; thereby leaving a mark of
distinction upon the Jews, who were by this means known to worship
that God whose name was Jehovah, who made the world, and delivered them from
the hands of Pharaoh: so we must conceive that he hath given us this
day as a sign between him and us for ever, whereby we may be known to
worship the same God Jehovah, who did not only create heaven and
earth in the beginning, but also raised his eternal Son from the dead for
our redemption. As therefore the Jews do still retain the
celebration of the seventh day of the week, because they will not believe
any greater deliverance wrought than that of Egypt; as the Mahometans
religiously observe the sixth day of the week in memory of Mahomet’s
flight from Mecca, whom they esteem a greater Prophet than our
Saviour; as these are known and distinguished in the world by these several
celebrations of distinct days in the worship of God; so all which profess
the Christian religion are known publicly to belong unto the church of
Christ by observing the first day of the week, upon which Christ did
rise from the dead, and by this mark of distinction are openly separated
from all other professions.
[Summary]
20.—That Christ did thus rise from the dead, is a most necessary
article of the Christian faith, which all are obliged to believe and
profess, to the meditation whereof the Apostle hath given a particular
injunction, Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised
from the dead. First, because without it our faith is vain, and by
virtue of it strong. By this we are assured that he which died was the Lord
of life; and though he were crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the
power of God. By this resurrection from the dead, he was declared to be the
Son of God; and upon the morning of the third day did those words of the
Father manifest a most important truth, Thou art my Son, this day have I
begotten thee. In his death he assured us of his humanity, by his
resurrection he demonstrated his Divinity.
21.—Secondly, by his resurrection we are assured of the justification of our
persons; and if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the
dead, it will be imputed to us for righteousness: for he
was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our
justification. By his death we know that he suffered for sin, by his
resurrection we are assured that the sins for which be suffered were not his
own: had no man been a sinner, he had not died; had he been a sinner, he had
not risen again: but dying for those sins which we committed, he rose from
the dead to show that he had made full satisfaction for them, that we
believing in him might obtain remission of our sins, and justification of
our persons, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, and raising up our surety from the
prison of the grave, did actually absolve, and apparently acquit him from
the whole obligation to which he had bound himself, and in discharging him
acknowledged full satisfaction made for us. Who then shall lay any thing
to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again.
22.—Thirdly, it was necessary to pronounce the resurrection of Christ
as an Article of our faith, that thereby we might ground, confirm,
strengthen, and declare our hope. For the God and Father if our Lord
Jesus Christ according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an
inheritance incorruptible and undefiled. By the resurrection of
Christ his Father hath been said to have begotten him; and therefore by
the same he hath begotten us, who are called brethren and coheirs with
Christ. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the
death of his Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life.
He laid down his life, but it was for us; and being to take up his own,
he took up ours. We are the members of that body of which Christ is
the Head; if the Head be risen, the members cannot be far behind. He is the
first-born from the dead, and we the sons of the resurrection. The Spirit
of Christ abiding in us maketh us the members of Christ, and
by the same Spirit we have a full right and title to rise with our Head.
For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us, he
that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by
his Spirit that dwelleth in us. Thus the resurrection of Christ
is the cause of our resurrection by a double causality, as an efficient, and
as an exemplary cause. As an efficient cause, in regard our Saviour by and
upon his resurrection hath obtained power and right to raise all the dead;
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. As an
exemplary cause, in regard that all the saints of God shall rise after the
similitude and in conformity to the resurrection of Christ; For if
we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also
in the likeness of his resurrection. He shall change our vile bodies, that
they may be like unto his glorious body: that as we have borne the image of
the earthy, we may also bear the image of the heavenly. This is the
great hope of a Christian, that Christ rising from the dead
hath obtained the power, and is become the pattern of his resurrection. The
breaker is come up before them; they have broken up and have passed through
the gate; their King shalt pass before them, and the Lord on the head of
them.
23.—Fourthly, it is necessary to profess our faith in Christ risen
from the dead, that his resurrection may effectually work its proper
operation on our lives. For as it is efficient and exemplary to our bodies,
so it is also to our souls. When we were dead in sins, God quickeneth us
together with Christ. And, as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. To
continue among the graves of sin while Christ is risen, is to incur
that reprehension of the angel, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
To walk in any habitual sin, is either to deny that sin is death, or
Christ is risen from the dead. Let then the dead bury the dead,
but let not any Christian bury him who rose from death that he might live.
Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light. There must be a spiritual resurrection of the soul before
there can be a comfortable resurrection of the body. Blessed and holy is
he that hath part in this first resurrection, on such the second death hath
no power.
24.—Having thus explained the manner of Christ’s resurrection, and
the necessity of our faith in him risen from the dead, we may easily give
such a brief account, as any Christian may understand what it is he
should intend, when he makes profession of this part of his CREED; for he is
conceived to acknowledge thus much, I freely and fully assent unto this as a
truth of infinite certainty and absolute necessity, that the eternal Son of
God, who was crucified and died for our sins, did not long continue in the
state of death, but by his infinite power did revive and raise himself, by
reuniting the same soul which was separated to the same body which was
buried, and so rose the same man: and this he did the third day from his
death; so that dying on Friday the sixth day of the week, the day of the
preparation of the sabbath, and resting in the grave the sabbath day, on the
morning of the first day of the week he returned unto life again, and
thereby consecrated the weekly revolution of that first day to a religious
observation until his coming again. And thus I believe the third day he
rose again from the dead.
