to dissolution. Thirdly, he saw them actually consigned by the sentence of the law to eternal death. O the insupportable ignominy! to be judged unworthy to live in the light of heaven, -unworthy to share in the love of infinite Love itself,-unfit for the society of holy beings, and fit only to be company for devils and fuel for the flames. He saw them condemned to welter under the wrath of the Almighty to all eternity.

Thus he saw the world sunk under the dominion of a three-fold death. And from this state no finite power could redeem them. Nor had they ability to redeem themselves, any more than Lazarus had to tear off his grave clothes and come forth.

In that hour Jesus saw and pitied us and hastened to our relief. He came to destroy the works of the devil, to break this triple chain which bound the world to death, and in a three-fold sense to be "the Resurrection and the Life." As these three kinds of death were entailed by the first Adam, and as the redemption by the second Adam was a redemption from the three; all these deaths, as well as the corresponding resurrections, are often thrown together in a sort of mystical confusion, and a transition is made from one to another in the same discourse, not easily understood by one unapprized of all this. An instance of such a transition appears in our context. "Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day;" referring to the resurrection of the body. "Jesus said unto her, I am the

Resurrection and the Life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live; [referring to a resurrection from a three-fold death:] and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die," spiritually and eternally.

The second Person in the Trinity, having undertaken this great work, was, in the subordinate character of Mediator, qualified to be "the Resurrection and the Life" by receiving power and authority to distribute life as he pleases. "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;" and "as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will."

Thus qualified, the Mediator proceeded in his work; the sum of which was to be "the Resurrection and the Life" in a three-fold sense.

1. He becomes "the Resurrection and the Life" by raising his people from the death of sin to the life of holiness. This he does in a double sense. First, by his death he rendered it consistent with the honor of the law to repeal the curse of abandonment pronounced on the race, and by his obedience he obtained the gift of the Spirit to our world. Secondly, having received the administration of the Spirit, he sends out that divine Agent to quicken his people according to his own will: a strong proof, by the by, of his proper divinity, whether the Holy Ghost be a divine Person or only the power of God; for it would be preposterous to suppose that a mere creature should direct God. He promised to send the Comforter to his disciples

to testify of him. And when he got home, he did send out the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, by whose power three thousand were raised from death at once.

This great work of raising a world from the death of sin, he is accomplishing every day. It is the Spirit of Jesus that awakens every careless sinner, that convinces every awakened sinner, that converts every convinced sinner, or in the language of Ezekiel, which breathes life into the dead body in which bone has come to its bone and the flesh and sinews have been gathered thereupon. It is to the power of Jesus alone that parents can look for the resurrection of their dead children,-that ministers can look for the resurrection of their dead hearers, that sinners can look for the resurrection of their own souls.

He is not only "the Resurrection," but "the Life" also; and when he has raised his people from the death of sin, he continues to support their spiritual existence. This is not only directly asserted, but set forth by various figures. He is the Head to the members, and the Vine which constantly gives life to the branches. The same truth is most delightfully illustrated by the vision of Zachariah. He saw a golden candlestick, with a bowl on the top for the oil. From the bowl seven golden pipes led to seven lamps. On each side of the candlestick was an olive tree, whose principal branch, through a golden pipe, constantly discharged oil into the bowl and fed the lamps, which of course never went out. Thus there is, as it were, a golden VOL. II.

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pipe laid from Christ to the believer's heart, through which flow constant supplies of life, light, and comfort. Hence it is that the life and light of Christi

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continue to shine, notwithstanding all the damps and floods of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and continue, in the language of another, as 'great a miracle as a candle kept lighted from age to age in the bowels of the ocean. By this unceasing operation countless multitudes will be recovered from the death of sin to the perfection of holiness. And when the blessed assembly shall be displayed together, it will be such a multitude as no man can number, shouting and pointing to Jesus, and rapturously repeating his delightful words, "I am the Resurrection and the Life: he that believeth on me, though he were dead yet shall he live."

2. Christ is "the Resurrection and the Life" by raising his people from eternal death to everlasting life. The flames of their hell were extinguished by his blood, which procured and sealed their pardon; and his meritorious obedience purchased for them the inheritance of glory. In him and in him only poor sinners are complete. "There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Because he lives they shall live also. Jesus is the life of the world, -the living bread which came down from heaven, which if a man eat he shall never hunger. He came that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly. The most abandoned sinner, who is condemned by the law to the lowest hell, by faith in him may be acquitted of all his guilt. There is the last hope of

an expiring race. There is the only hope which anxious parents can have for their perishing offspring, and dying sinners for their own souls. There is the only hope for saints on earth, and the only security for saints in heaven. And there is hope enough. How many times every day do christians lift their eyes to Jesus, and with every hope centering in him, call him their Resurrection and their Life. And how eminently will he thus appear when he shall display before his throne, in one vast assembly, the immense columns of human beings who were once the heirs of hell, but were raised to life eternal by his mediation and power. Will not heaven forever ring with the music of these delightful words, "I am the Resurrection and the Life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live."

3. Jesus is, "the Resurrection and the Life" by eventually raising the bodies of his people from the grave. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." The apostle, in proof of the resurrection, quotes a verse from the 110th Psalm, purporting that Christ must hold the mediatorial government until all his enemies are put under his feet; and then alleging death to be an enemy, he brings his argument for the resurrection to a point by saying, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

How precious is our Redeemer, viewed, in this sense, as "the Resurrection and the Life." What a joyous hope is this when we stand around the dying beds of our friends, when we commit them

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