Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." 1

66

This living hope is produced "by" means of "the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead." The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the most striking and satisfactory proofs of the divinity of his mission, and, of course, of the truth of all its doctrines; and, among the rest, of that grand characteristic doctrine of his gospel on which the hope of eternal life is founded. It is, indeed, not so much one evidence as a cloud of witnesses." It is the fulfilment of Old Testament predictions respecting the Messiah, and thus proves him to be the Messiah-it is the fulfilment of his own predictions, and therefore proves him to be a true prophet. It is God determining the controversy between him and his unbelieving countrymen. He declared himself to be the Son of God, and they put him to death because he declared himself to be the Son of God; and God interposed, and by doing for him what none but God could have done, proved that He was right, and they were wrong. Most powerfully was Jesus Christ demonstrated to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead."

But there is a more intimate connection than this between the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and the hope of eternal life. Christ's resurrection from the dead is a clear proof of the reality and efficacy of his atoning sacrifice. He "who was given for our offences, has been raised again for our justification." When God "brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the everlasting covenant," he manifested himself to be "the God of peace," the pacified Divinity. He "raised him from the dead, and gave him glory, that our faith and hope might be in himself." Had Jesus not risen, our faith had been vain; we should have been still in our sin," and without hope. But now that he has risen

"Our surety freed, declares us free,

For whose offences He was seized;
In His release our own we see,

And joy to view Jehovah pleased."

But even this is not all. Our Lord's resurrection is to be viewed not only in connection with his death, but with the following glory. Raised from the dead, he has received "all power in heaven and on earth, that he may give eternal life to as many as the Father had given him." How this is calculated to encourage hope, may be readily apprehended. "Because he lives, we shall live also." Having the keys of death and the unseen world, he can and will raise us from the dead, and give us eternal life. He sits at the right hand of God. "Our life is hid with him in God; and when he who is our life shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory." We are

1 The above remarks, somewhat amplified, have been repeatedly published, under the title of "Hints on Hope." Rom. i. 4 Heb. xiii. 20. 1 Pet. i. 21. 1 Cor. xv. 17

Ai dvasárews. Hoc pendet a grav. Col. v. 21.-BENGEL. 4 Rom. iv. 25.

not yet in possession of the inheritance; but he, our head and representative, is. "We see not yet all things put under us; but we see Him," the Captain of our salvation, "for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor." The resurrection of Christ, when con. sidered in reference to the death which preceded, and the glory which followed it, is the grand means of producing and strengthening the hope of eternal life.

Let us all beware of false hopes. Let him who never hoped, now receive the truth in the love of it, and begin to hope. Let those who have believed abound in hope. There is, there can be, no danger of hoping too confidently, if the hope be but placed on the right foundation. "We desire that every one of you do show the same diligence, to the full assurance of hope unto the end; that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises."

II.-OF THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THESE BLESSINGS.

The devout acknowledgment of these blessings comes now to be considered: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." This devout acknowledgment naturally leads the mind to reflect on God as the author of these blessings-on the character in which he bestows them, "the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," on the principle in which the bestowal of these blessings originates, "abundant mercy"-on their vast magnitude and inestimable value-and on the proper manner of Christians expressing their sense of this magnitude and value.

§ 1.-God is the author of these blessings.

The first remark suggested by this devout acknowledgment is, that God is the author of the blessings acknowledged. This is not only implied in making the acknowledgment-for when we return thanks for a favor, to whom do we offer our acknowledgment but to him who has bestowed it ?-but it is distinctly expressed: God has begotten us again. God has provided us an inheritance. God has given us a living hope.

God is the author of all good. All the holiness and all the happiness in the universe come from him. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." In the new creation, "All things are of God." The blessings enjoyed by Christians are all the free gifts of his sovereign goodness. He makes us his children. He brings us into the relation of children. He forms us to the character of children. When we are

1

John xiv. 19. 3 James i 17.

Rev. i. 18. Col. iii. 3. Heb. ii. 9. 2 Cor. v. 18.

iva. Heb. vi. 11, 12.

brought into the relation of children, our sins are forgiven, and we are justified freely by God's grace. But "who can forgive sins, but GOD only?" "It is God that justifieth." The sentence of the law can be remitted only by the great Lawgiver. The privilege of being the sons of God can be conferred by none but God. As it is God who brings us into the relation of children, it is God who forms us to the character of children. "For we are His workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus." It is God who, by the agency of his own Spirit, through the instrumentality of his own word understood and believed, transforms the character of a condemned felonious slave into that of a beloved and dutiful child. It is HE who takes "the hard and the stony heart out of our flesh, and gives us a heart of flesh." It is HE who disposes us to venerate, and esteem, and love, and trust him. It is HE who enables us cheerfully to obey his commandments, and submit to his appointments. It is HE who sends forth his Spirit into our hearts, teaching us to cry, " Abba, Father." 2

As it is God who makes us his children, bringing us into the filial relation, forming us to the filial character, so it is God who has provided, and who will bestow on his people, the inheritance corresponding to the relation into which he has brought them, and the character to which He has formed them. "It is the FATHER's good pleasure to give them the kingdom." The final happiness of the saints is entirely the result of DIVINE love, and wisdom, and power. Eternal life is the gift of God." God himself is, indeed, if I may use the expression, the very substance of the celestial blessedness. To know him-to see him as he is-to find in him the adequate object of all our unbounded capacities of knowledge, and affection, and enjoyment -to love him, and to be loved by him, and to know that we are loved by him-to be like him, having no mind different from his, no will opposed to his-to enter into his joy, and thus to have our joy made full--this is the inheritance; and who can thus give us God, but God himself?

And all that was necessary, in order to make the communication of such a happiness to such creatures as we are guilty, righteously condemned-consistent with the honor of the divine character; and all that is necessary to make such depraved creatures as we are, capable of such a happiness, is the work, not of men nor of angels, but of God. His love originated the purpose-his wisdom formed the plan-his power will work out the accomplishment, of his people's salvation.

As the inheritance is his gift, so also is the hope of the inheritance. It is God who gives us the living hope. The ground of that hope is His sovereign kindness-that kindness is displayed in harmony with righteousness, in His giving His Son to be the propitiation for the sins of men. This display of his sovereign kindness is made in His revelation of His will by "holy men who spoke as they were moved. by His Spirit ;" and this revelation, in the belief of which alone the condemned sinner can find hope, is understood and believed by the individual sinner, in consequence of the effectual working of His

1 Mark ii. 7. Rom. viii. 33.

Luke xii. 82. Rom. vi. 23.

Eph. ii. 10. Ezek. xi. 19. Gal. iv. 6.

Spirit. It was He who "delivered his Son for our offences." It was He who " raised him again for our justification." It is He who disposes us to believe this revelation of mercy. It is HE who thus gives us "good hope through grace." Every measure of the living hope, from the faint dawn which opens on the mind of the sinner coming to the knowledge of the truth, to the clear unclouded radiance which enlightens the mind of him who has received "the full assurance of understanding," every measure of this living hope is the gift of God; and we end as we began the illustration of this particular with the sublime declaration of the apostle respecting the new creation, "All things are of God." "Of HIM, and through him, and to him, are all things." 'God is all in all." 1

§ 2. It is as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that God bestows these blessings.

The second remark suggested by this devout acknowledgment is, that in bestowing the favors here acknowledged, God acts in the character of "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." God is infinitely holy, and cannot but disapprove sin-cannot but loathe and abhor it in a degree of which we can form no adequate conception. God is inflexibly just, and can " by no means clear the guilty.' He is "not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with him. The foolish shall not stand in his sight; and he hates the workers of iniquity." "Snares, fire and brimstone, and a furious. tempest will he rain on the wicked; this pertains to them as a portion of their cup."2 How is it then, that this holy and righteous God blesses sinful men with all heavenly and spiritual blessings? How is it that he makes them his children; gives them a heavenly inheritance, and cheers them with a living hope?

It is as "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," that he does all this. In the riches of his sovereign mercy he determined to save an innumerable multitude of sinful men, and in the depth of his wisdom he formed a plan for realizing the determination of his mercy, not merely in consistency with, but in glorious illustration of, hist holiness and justice. The leading feature in that plan is, the appointment of his only begotten Son to be the representative of those who were to be saved, to be dealt with as they deserved to be dealt with, that they might be dealt with as he deserved to be dealt with. The second person of the glorious Trinity is essentially his Father's equal -possessed of the same divine essence and perfections; but in this assumed character he is the Father's inferior; he acts a subordinate part in the economy of salvation. God, essentially considered, in the person of the Father, is the God of " the Mediator between God and man ;" and he is his Father, not merely essentially, as he is the second person of the Trinity, but also economically, as he is the head of the chosen family" the first-born among many brethren."

The great truth intended to be taught us by God being represented as the author of spiritual blessings to men, in the character of the

1 Rom. iv. 25. 2 Thess. ii. 16. 2 Cor. v. 18. Rom. xi. 36. 1 Cor. xv. 28.
Exod. xxxiv. 7. Psal. v. 4, 5; xi. 6.

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is this-that it is only as viewed in connection with him; or, as the inspired writers usually express it, as "in him," that we sinners can obtain any saving blessing from God. The order is, "all things are ours, we are Christ's, Christ is God's." He is our God because he is his God, our Father because he is his Father. Take the blessings mentioned in the text as an illustration. God makes us his children, that is, he pardons our sins, he receives us into his favor, he conforms us to his image. Now, how does he do this? He gives "us redemption in Christ, the forgiveness of sins." He makes us "accepted in the beloved." "We are his workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works." He gives us an inheritance. How? in Christ. In him," says the apostle, "we have obtained an inheritance." He makes us to "sit in heavenly places in him."* He gives us a living hope. How? While "without Christ," viewed as unconnected with Christ, there is no hope for man; all his well-grounded expectations of happiness must be founded on what Christ has done, and is doing, as the representative of his people. While in the new creation, all things are "of God," all things are "through Christ Jesus." It is as well pleased with Him, that God is well pleased with us; and it is as his God and Father, that he blesses us "with all heavenly and spiritual blessings in him."

§ 3. These blessings originate in the "abundant mercy" of God.

The third remark suggested by this devout acknowledgment is, that in the bestowing of these blessings on us by God, there is a remarkable display of the divine benignity. It is "according to his abundant mercy, that he begets us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation; ready to be revealed in the last time." This remark invites us into a very wide field of most interesting and improving illustration; but I must satisfy myself with merely opening to you a few tracks of thought, which you will do well to pursue in private meditation.

Think on the character of him who bestows these blessings,-the absolute, independent Jehovah, perfectly, infinitely, unchangeably happy in himself. How could the self-incurred ruin of guilty mankind affect his interest? It might illustrate his holiness, his righteousness, his faithfulness, but how could it disturb his peace, or lessen his blessedness? It is impossible to conceive the communication of saving blessings to man, to originate in any principle in the divine mind but sovereign benignity. If man is saved, it is "only because God had a delight in him to love him."

Think on the nature of the blessings,-the very highest which can be conferred on creatures, the noblest in their own nature, and in their measure limited by nothing but the capacity of the recipient.

1

2 Cor. iii. 22, 23. John xx. 17.

2

Eph.

i. 3-13.