i1LsC. n.] EXADIINBD AND ESTABLISHER. 159 If Christ be yet under the painof death, as the apos- tle argues, 1 Cor. xv. 17. and be not risen; then our faith is vain, whoare yet in our sins : I3ut.if he be risen, then our faith and hope are confirmed, and our sinsare atoned for, and our souls are pardoned, if we trust in him. o how many guilty consciences are made easy, and that upon solid grounds, by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead ? He is a God ofpeace, and reconciled to sinners, who brought Jesus .Christfrom the dead, by vir- tue of the blood of the everlasting covenant; Heb. xiii. 20. Rom. viii. 34. Several of the dead saints arose after his resurrection, and that by the virtue of it, Mat. xxvii. 33. as an emblem of the many dead souls that should rise from a death in sins and trespasses by the same influence. Eph. ii. 5, 6. A risen Saviour ,hath, according to the apostles preaching, giving them.repentance.and remission of.sins. Luke xxiv. 46, 47. They are raised from a death in sins, by virtueof the resurrection y: . 2. How many earthly, carnal and sensual souls, have been made heavenly-minded, by faith, in a risenSaviour. Many there are who have felt the power of the word; Col. üi. 1 Ifye are risen with Christ, set your a ec- tions on things above, where Christ sitteth at the right- handofGod. A risen Jesus calls the soul upward, and heaven -ward. What have we here on earth worth living for, since Jesus is risen from the dead, bath left the world and gone to heaven ? Jesus our hope, our life, our eternal joy ; Col. i. 27. Thisgospel of a risen Saviour bath done more to refine the heart from earth, and flesh, and sensuality, and the love of this world, and turn to God, and things heavenly, than all the reasonings of philosophers through all ages, and in all nations. Compare the cities where they dis- puted, with the churches which Paul planted, and then Judge. 3. How many captives of Satan have been released by the power of .Jesus, since his release from the grave? The devil had no power to hold Christ in the fetters of .death ; Acts xii_ 37, 38. and bath been forced to release thousandsof his slaves by the authority of a, risen Jesus.
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