high hearts of men shall be humbled, finding such weight in thy words. The Lord give us grace, that when we stand up to speak of the resurrection of Christ to others, we may have the persuasion of it in our own hearts, and that we may find his gracious Spirit working in us, and as we speak of heaven and these joys to others, so we may find some joy begin in our own hearts here, that after this life is ended, we may reign with him in glory for ever with Christ! To whom, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all honour, praise, and glory, for evermore. Amen. THE THIRTY-SECOND LECTURE. OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. LUKE, CHAP. XXIV. 12. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre, and looked in, and saw the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. JOHN, CHAP. xx. 3. Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they came unto the sepulchre. 4. So they ran both together; but the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. 5. And he stooped down, and saw the linen clothes lying: yet went he not in. 6. Then came Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and saw the linen clothes lie, 7. And the handkerchief, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. 8. Then went in also the other disciple, who came first to the sepulchre, and he saw it, and believed. 9. For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. 10. And the disciples went away again unto their own home.1 We have heard, these days past, beloved in the Lord Jesus, of the two companies of women that went out of Jerusalem, toward The Commentary takes up the verse of Luke together with John xx. 3–13. the grave of the Lord, early in the morning; the one company that came first, wherein was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, with other women, and the next company of women, whose names are not expressed nor registrate. We heard of their returning home again from the grave of the Lord, how they come to the place where the eleven apostles were lurking with some other disciples, who loved the Lord. We heard of the preaching that the first company makes, and then the preaching of the second company,--their preaching all testifying, "that the Lord Jesus was risen." We heard last, what effect this preaching wrought in the hearts of the eleven apostles, to wit, they thought it all but folly, fables, and a feigned report, and believed it not. It is a hard matter to believe the report of Christ, of his passion, and glorious resurrection. Thus far we heard the last day. Now, to come to the text that we have read. We have, first, another effect which this report wrought. Howbeit it wrought not faith, yet it had its own effect in two disciples at least, Peter and John; they are wakened by it to seek to the grave of the Lord, to see if it was so as the women reported. Well, then, the report of the women is not altogether fruitless, at the least, it wakens some of them up to run to the grave, to see if it was so as the women had reported. This testifies clearly, that even all the time that these apostles lay lurking like cowards, yet all that time there remained in them a seed of faith, a seed of godliness, and a spunk of love toward their Master, Christ. Indeed, it was smothered with the dross of the corruption of nature, but yet it was not quite put out; and, therefore, as soon as these women come and make report of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the seed begins to waken and draw spirits,1 and makes them to run to see if it was true that he was risen. For it is true, that they who once have gotten faith in Christ, in whose heart this seed is once sown,howbeit for a time they will fall in a slumber, yea, in a heavy sleep, and that seed will be so holden down, that it will not be seen to 1 i. e. Acquire strength, colligere animos. the world; yea, they that have it will not feel it themselves ;-yet it is sure, that true seed of faith, sown once in the heart, will never be clean put out and extinguished altogether. It is true, it will be for a time lying dead in the heart, without life or motion. The Lord will be lying in thee without working for a time, and taking a shape and fashion, as the birth in the mother's womb does, as the apostle says, Galatians, chap. iv., verse 19, "until Christ be formed in you." And all this time he lies without working, the man will seem then to be but dead; but as soon as that word sounds, which is the word of life, the word of the cross, and of the resurrection of Jesus, then that man, who appeared to be dead, will take life, and Jesus, who appeared to be dead in thee, will be quick. Howbeit they will not have faith, yet it will stir them up to seek Christ, and inquire whether it be so or not. In the history of the Acts, chap. xvii., verse 11, ye may read a vive example of this. There were certain of the Jews in a town called Berea, and they were in the same estate; they had no thought of Jesus, but were enemies unto him, yet, notwithstanding, there was some good seed within them, and, therefore, they are said to be more noble than the Jews at Thessalonica. Now, the apostle Paul comes in amongst them, and begins to preach Christ; then that little seed begins to stir, and they begin to be wakened, and they are thereby moved to read the Old Testament, to see if it was true that Paul preached or no. And then they finding it to be so as Paul had spoken, many of them believed in Christ. We have our lesson here. It is not good to be hasty in judgment; be loath to condemn any. Howbeit thou see men fall and lie long, yet judge not too hastily of them, for who knows if there be a spunk in their hearts, which neither thou nor they themselves know of; but try whether the seed be or no. And thou shalt try it by this thing. Speak of the death, passion, and resurrection of Christ unto them; if, after long speaking, there be no wakening, certainly that is a very evil token that there is no good in that heart; if he be in such a deadly sleep that nothing will waken him, that is a faithless heart, and a heart full of gall and bitterness, and replenished with iniquity. But if there be some quickening, although it were never so little,-yea, suppose he believe not, and yet hath a readiness to hear, and say this, "Lord, open mine eyes to see, and mine heart to believe," and if this be found in him, that is a good heart, and that birth shall come forth in its own time; for, as the birth is not perfected in an instant in the mother's womb, so faith is not perfected at the first, but it grows by little and little. Now, when they are wakened, what do they? "They run to the grave." They went not fair and softly, but "they ran to the grave." Now, certainly, this running must needs proceed of some motion in the heart; some motion behoved to stir them up. Ye see what motion moved Mary Magdalene to run home; she was in displeasure, because she missed the body of the Lord, for she thought it had been stolen away. It cannot be displeasure that moved them to run; no doubt, it was joy in their hearts which made their hearts light, and the light heart made the feet speedy. And if thou have joy, it will cause thee to run and seek him. But from whence came this joy? I see no matter of joy, but in these tidings which they heard. But how could they have joy, seeing they believed them not? I answer to this, they would have believed, and fain would have had it so, and that was the thing which they most desired. And ye know, that' we hear that thing which we would fain have come to pass, we will have joy to hear of it, and our delight will be to see if it be so. And so suppose there was not a full faith in them, yet there was a bowing and an inclination to faith. And it is a strange thing to bow the heart, for it will be as hard to bow the heart as to bow a strong oak; so the least bowing to yield to the report of Jesus is wonderful, and there shall follow an unspeakable joy, which passes all understanding. The least conception of that joy will be greater than thou wilt have, yea, and make thee a king or a queen. Seek ever to that heavenly affection, for the beast hath this earthly affection; then seek thou after the heavenly, or thine estate shall be worse than 1 When omitted. |