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had it been in their power. After they had murdered him, and laid him in his grave, under a triple ſecurity, the ſtone, the ſeal, and the watch; yet, according to his own prediction, he roſe the third day after his death. He did not indeed appear publicly before the Jewiſh nation after his reſurrection, as he had done before his death: but the whole college of the apoſtles, men of ſufficient abilities for diſcerning,——men of untainted candour and integrity, go to death, one after another, maintaining the ſame thing, viz. that they ſaw with their eyes Jeſus of Nazareth alive; that they eat and drank, and converſed familiarly with him, for no leſs than forty days after he had been both dead and buried. Thus the reſurrection of Chriſt, upon which the whole of chriſtianity depends, ſtands upon the moſt undoubted evidence*[1]. Now, my brethren, beſides the external evidence for the truth of chriſtianity, ariſing from miracles and prophecies, which the acuteſt adverſaries have not yet been able to diſprove; real believers have the inward witneſs of the Spirit of God, convincing them of the truth of Chriſtianity, with a certainty beyond all moral f(illegible text)ſions or mathematical demonſtrations in the world.
2. The knowledge of Chriſt crucified excels all other Knowledge in point of eaſineſs and plainneſs. How dif-
- ↑ We are ready to think that the evidence of Chriſt's reſurrection would have been ſtronger, had he appeared as publicly after it, as he did before his death. Why, ſays one, did he not ſhew himſelf to the priests and elders of Jeruſalem? and then the whole city would have believed on him. And why, may another ſay, did he not go to Rome, and ſhew himſelf to the Roman emperor and the ſenate? And a third may aſk, why he did not appear in Britain? For when vain men begin with their preſumptuous whys and wherefores, there is no end of them. But the evidence we have of his reſurrection is ſuch as gives abundant ſatisfaction to candid and unprejudiced enquirers, and yet leaves room for thoſe to object who are willfully ignorant and obſtinate in their unbelief And this a fair trial, ſuited to the caſe of thoſe who are pr(illegible text)ationers. An overpowering and irreſiſtible evidence, clear of all difficulties and objections, would be no trial; and therefore, when we quarrel for the want of it, we forget who and where we are, namely, pr(illegible text)ationers, in a ſtate of (illegible text) and improvement for another world. To expect, ſays the learned Bp. Butler, a diſtinct comprehenſive view of the whole ſubject (viz. Chriſtianity) clear of difficulties and objection, is to forget our nature and condition; neither of which admit of any ſuch knowledge with reſpect to any ſcience whatever: and to inquire with this (illegible text), is not to enquire as a man, but as one of another order of creatures. Sermons at the Rolls, ſerm. 15. (illegible text). 309.
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