Serm. CXXXIX. our Savior's Relurreiiort With others who accompanied them fromyerüfalèrh, returned batk : but hisFo(- lowers who lived inGalilee remained there ; fo that there might veryWell. be Five hundred at the Meeting in Galilee, and but an Hundred and twenty at gerufalem. St. Pvdgoeson, her. j. After that he wasfeen ofJames. This particular Appear- ance of our Lord to St. games, the Brother of our Lord, is no where mentioned in the Evangelifts. St. Paul probably had it from the common Tradition men- tioned by St. Jerome, out ofthe HebrewGófelof the Nazarenes, in whicharefeveral Pafiages omitted bySt.Matthew, and this for one ; " That our Lord, immediately " after he had rifen, went and appeared to James; for games had vowed that Hour " that he drank of the Cupof the Lord, (viz. in the Sacrament) lie would not eat Bread, till he faw him rifen from the Dead. TheLord, when he appeared to " him, fald, Bring hither Bread and a Table, and he took the Bread and blelled " and brake it, and gave it to games the Jolt, and Paid to him, MyBrother,' eat " thyBread ; for the Son of Man is rifen fróm among them that fleep. To this TraditionSt. Paul probably alludes; but then r which we translateafterwards or then, ought tobe render'd, as it elfewhere is, preterea, betides, Moreover he ap- peared to James, without denoting the Order of the Time; for according to this Traditions it was prefetrtly after his Refurreítion, before he had appeared to the other Apoftles: It follows, Then he was lest Of all the Apeßles ; that is, byThomta, as well as the reft. And this was his fécond Appearanceto the Apoftles together; of which St. Luke gives us an Account, Luke24.5. and St. John, Ch. 20. rg. And laß ofall, he ryas, fays St Paul, fien ofme alto, as an Abortive, or one horse out of due Time. This he fpeaks of the Appearance of our Lord to him, in his Way to Daiasafcita, whereby he was in a very powerful and extraordinary Man- ner On a fudden converted to Chriftiattity. Thus I have given you an Account of the feveral Appearances of our Saviour not only to the Apoftles, but to Others, and have endeavoured to explain the chief Difficulties relating to them ; fo that here is a veryplentiful Teftimonyof our Saviour's Appearance after his Refurre&ion. I proceed to the lld Thing here obferváble, That our Lord was really alive when he thus ap- peared, and his Body vitally united to his Sbul : Tö Whom alfa he 'hewed himsfelf alive. To which Purpofe, there is a remarkable Paffage in IInativa, in his Epiftle to the Church of Smyrna, out of the fame HebrewNatiarene Gofpel; " That Chrift " faid to Peter after his Refurre&ion, Behold, touch me, and fee that I am hot aSpirit that have afiumed a Body," For that was one great Obje&ion, that his Body was not a real Body united to his Soul, but á thin airy Body, fuch as arc affumed by Spe&res and Apparitions. But the farther Evidence of this, I refer to the Second general Head, concerning the Proofs of the Reality of his Appearance. I proceed to the IIId Thing I obferved, viz. That he appeared alive after he had been really dead. To whom alfa he (hewed himfelfalive, after his PaJon,'fays theText; that is, after he was crucified, and dead, and buried, he was railed and reflored to Life again. And this likewife is neceffary, to evidence the Truth and Reality of his Refurre&ion, that he was really dead. That this was fo, we cannot doubt, whe- ther we confider theMalice of theJewi, who would take Care he fhould bedead before he was taken from theCrofs ; or the Manner ofhis Deáth, his Heart be- ing pierced by the Spear,. which was evident from the Water and Blood which came out of hisSide, which. (hewed that his Heart was mortally wounded ; or the Time of his being in the Gravé, whichwas Part of threeDays: And now if he was really dead, his Reftitution to Life, which we tall his Re:- furre&ion, mutt be miraculous ; it being beyond any natural Power, that we know of, to effe& it. As for that malicious Tradition of the eis, that he was Polén oút of his Grava by his Difciples, while theWatch was afleep, and given out to be rifen from the Dead; betides the undeniable Proofa.of his Refurre&ion, which I (hall produce by and by the Evidence which thee fuborïid Witneffes gave Of his Difçiples healing away his BQdy, deftrtiy3 it felt for they fáld, D iplei oánie 6yNighty Z 3
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