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{8
ST. PAUL'S
DIVINE
COMMISSION.
[DISC.
I.
darker
expressions. Now
if
he
had
not
risen from
the
dead, then Jesus
had
not
been the Messiah
whom the
prophets foretold.
See
Acts
xxvi. 6,
$,
for thus
St.
Paul
pleads
:
And
now
I
stand and
am
judged .for
the
hope
of
the promise
made
of
God unto our
fathers;
Why
should
it
be
thought
a
thing
incredible,
with
you,
that
God should raise the
dead
?
1
Cor. xv.
4.
Paul
Awns
that
he
was
dead, and
that
he
was
buried,
and
that
he
rose
again
on
the
third
day
according
to
the Scrip-
sures,
Acts
xiii. 32,
&c.
The,
promise
which
was made
unto
the
f
fathers,
God
bath
fulfilled
the
same
.unto
us
their
children, in
that
he
hath
raised
up
Jesus
from
the
[lead.
is.
liii. 9
-12.
He
poured out
his
soul
unto
death.
He
shall
see
his
seed, he
shall prolong
his days. Ps.
xvi.
10;
11.
Thou
wilt
not
leave
my
soul
in hell,
nor suffer
thine
holy one to
see
corruption:
Thou
wilt
spew
me
the
path
of
life.
But
on the
other hand,
if
he did
rise
from the dead,
this
is
a
thing
Which
a
mere man could
not
do
by
his
awn
power,
nor
would
the
holy
and'
all
-wise,
and
true
and
faithful
God,
suffer any
evil
powers to
do
it
for
the
yindieation
of
an
impostor;
and
therefore
he
must
be
the true
Messiah.
It
is
also
a
most effectual
proof of hiacommission
from
God, because
Jesus Christ
foretold this concerning
himself;
John
ii. 18, 19,
21, 22, viz.
"
that
he
should
rise from the dead
Mat.
xvi. 21.
The
miracles
which
Christ
.performed
were very
great, and
sufficient to
prove
his
divine
authority
:
But
since he
gave
forth
such
a
prophecy concerning
himself,
if
this
prophecy.
had
-never
been
fulfilled,
it
would
have weakened the
force
of
his
miracles, and
given us
reason to
suspect
what
power they
carne from.
This,
his
rising from the dead,
was
the
great
and crowning miracle
that
gave confirma-
tion to
all the rest.
Now
considering
this
resurrection
from
the
dead,
to
be-
foretold
by
the prophets, and
by
himself
in
his
life
-
time, this
was as
great
a
testimony
as
could
be
given of
God's
approving
him
as
a
prophet
sent
from heaven
:
For
itis
the
peculiar
property
and work
of
God
to raise
th&.death See
Rom.
iv.
17.
This
is
God's eminent
pre
-
rogative.
Surely he
must be
no
common favourite
of
heaven,
On
whom
the
great and
almighty
God
bestows