202 ST. PAUL'S DIVINE COMMISSION. 7. Let us reflect on this delightful circumstance of our own death, and the new life of Christ, that, in both these, he was our Pattern and Forerunner; 2 Tim. ii. 8, 10-13. If we die withhim we shall also live with him ; Heb. vi. 20. Must we lie down in death? Jesus, the Son of God, went through the dark valley before us, and lay down in the grave, and sancti- fied it to us for a sleeping place ; 1 Thess. iv. 13-18. His death Was attended with much more terror from God and man than ours is or can be. His death hath taken away the sting from ours. Did Jesus rise again from the dead ? So shall we, if we arehis sincere followers. He is our head, thefirst-bornfrom the dead; Col. i. 15. and our example. Rom. viii. 11. The same spirit shall quicken us, whatsoever nation we lived in, Rome or Jerusalem, Asia or Corinth, or Great-Britain, or in what age soever I 1 Cor. xv. 20, 23, 49. 2 Cor. iv. 14. And it will be a divine joy to meetholy Paul, our great apostle and our teacher among the holy saints, who has gone through so manydeaths and dangers, to acquaint us with this gospel. Was it so strange a thing to tell us, that one dead man even Jesus, should be alive again after his death? How strange and glorious a sight will it be, when all the dead in Christ, thousands and ten thousands, shall be made alive, with their Lord Jesus at the head of them. Rejoice for ever in the Lord, and comfort yourselves with this divineconsolation., Omen.
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