shew that the Messias, who was foretold both to die and to rise again, was not to rise before, and was to rise upon the third day after his death; and that in correspondence to these predictions, our Jesus, whom we believe to be the true Messias, did not rise from the dead until, and did rise from the dead upon, the third day.

The typical predictions of this truth were two, answering to our two considerations, one in reference to the distance, the other in respect of the day itself. The first is that of the prophet Jonas, who “was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights," and then by the special command of God he was rendered safe "upon the dry land," and sent a preacher of repentance to the great city of Nineveh. (Jonah i. 17, ii. 10. iii. 2.) This was an express type of the Messias then to come, who was to preach repentance and remission of sins to all nations; that "as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so should the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth :" (Matt. xii. 40.) and as he was restored alive unto the dry land again, so should the Messias, after three days, be taken out of the jaws of death, and restored unto the land of the living.

The type in respect of the day was the waved sheaf in the feast of the first-fruits, concerning which this was the law of God by Moses, "When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then shall ye bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf, an he-lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt-offering unto the Lord." (Lev. xxiii. 10-12.) For under the Levitical Law, all the fruits of the earth in the land of Canaan were profane; none might eat of them till they were consecrated, and that they were in the feast of the firstfruits. One sheaf was taken out of the field and brought to the priest, who lifted it up as it were in the name of all the rest, waving it before the Lord, and it was accepted for them, so that all the sheaves in the field were holy by the acceptation of that: "For if the first-fruits be holy, the lump also is holy." (Rom. xi. 16.) And this was always done the day after the sabbath, that is, the paschal solemnity, after which the fulness of the harvest followed: by which thus much was foretold and represented, that as the sheaf was lifted up and waved, and the lamb was offered on that day by the priest to God, so the promised Messias, that immaculate Lamb which was to die, that priest which dying was to offer up himself to God, was upon this day to be lifted up and raised from the dead, or rather to shake and lift up and present himself to God, and so to be accepted for us all, that so our dust might be sanctified, our corruption hallowed, our mortality consecrated to eternity. Thus was the resurrection of the Messias

after death typically represented both in the distance and the day.

And now in reference to both resemblances, we shall clearly shew, that our Jesus, whom we believe, and have already proved to be the true Messias, was so long and no longer dead, as to rise the third day; and did so order the time of his death, that the third day on which he rose, might be that very day, on which the sheaf was waved, the day after that sabbath mentioned in the Law.

As for the distance between the resurrection and the death of Christ, it is to be considered, First, generally in itself, as it is some space of time: Secondly, as it is that certain and determinate space of three days. Christ did not, would not, suddenly arise, lest any should doubt that he ever died.. It was as necessary for us that he should die, as that he should live; and we, which are to believe them both, were to be assured as well of the one as of the other. That therefore we may be ascertained of his death, he did some time continue it. He might have descended from the cross before he died; but he would not, because he had undertaken to die for us.* He might have revived himself upon the cross after he had given up the ghost,† and before Joseph came to take him down; but he would not, lest as Pilate questioned whether he were already dead, so we might doubt whether he ever died. The reward of his resurrection was immediately due upon his passion, but he deferred the receiving of it, lest either of them being questioned, they both might lose their efficacy and intended operation. It was therefore necessary that some space should intercede between them.

Again, because Christ's exaltation was due unto his humiliation, and the first step of that was his resurrection; because the apostles after his death were to preach repentance and remission of sins through his blood, who were no way qualified to preach any such doctrine till he rose again; because the Spirit could not be sent till he ascended, and he could not ascend into heaven till he rose from the grave: therefore the space between his resurrection and passion could not be long; nor can there be any reason assigned why it should any longer be deferred, when the verity of his death was once sufficiently proved. Lest therefore his disciples should be long held in suspense, or any person after many days should doubt whether * De cruce descendere poterat, sed differebat ut de sepulcro resurgeret. S. August. in Ioan. Tract. 12. §. 6.

† Ἠδύνατο μὲν καὶ παρ' αὐτὰ τοῦ θα· νάτου τὸ σῶμα διεγεῖραι καὶ πάλιν δεῖξαι ζῶν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο καλῶς προϊδὼν ὁ Σωτὴρ οὐ πεποίηκε· Εἶπε γὰρ ἄν τις μηδ' ὅλως αὐτὸ τεθνηκέναι, ἢ μηδὲ τέλειον αὐτοῦ τὸν θάνατον ἐψαυκέναι, εἰ παρ' avrà Tỳν áváσTaoiv v kπideížas; Táχα δὲ καὶ ἐν ἴσῳ τοῦ διαστήματος ὄντος

τοῦ τε θανάτου καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἄδηλον ἐγίνετο τὸ περὶ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας κλέος. Ὅθεν ἵνα δειχθῇ νεκρὸν τὸ σῶμα, καὶ μίαν ὑπέμεινε μέσην ὁ Λόγος, καὶ τρι ταῖον τοῦτο πᾶσιν ἔδειξεν ἄφθαρτον. S. Athanas. de Incarn. Verb. §. 26. Καὶ τρεῖς δὴ ἡμέρας διὰ τοῦτο συνεχώρησεν, ἵνα πιστευθῇ ὅτι ἀπέθανεν, οὐ γὰρ τῷ σταυρῷ αὐτῷ μόνον βεβαιοῦται, καὶ τῷ πάντων ὄψει, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ τῶν μepwv. S. Chrysost. Homil. 43. in Matt.

he rose with the same body with which he died, or no; that he might shew himself alive while the soldiers were watching at the grave, and while his crucifixion was yet in the mouths of the people, he would not stay many days before he rose.* Some distance then of time there was, but not great, between his crucifixion and his resurrection.

The particular length of this space is determined in the third day: but that expression being capable of some diversity of interpretation, it is not so easily concluded, how long our Saviour was dead or buried before he revived or rose again. It is written expressly in St. Matthew, that " as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so should the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (xii. 40.) From whence it seemeth to follow, that Christ's body was for the space of three whole days and three whole nights in the grave, and after that space of time arose from thence. And hence some have conceived, that being our Saviour rose on the morning of the first day of the week, therefore it must necessarily follow, that he died and was buried on the fifth day of the week before, that is, on Thursday; otherwise it cannot be true, that he was in the grave three nights.

But this place, as express as it seems to be, must be considered with the rest, in which the same truth is delivered: as when our Saviour said, "After three days I will rise again;" (Matt. xxvii. 63. Mark viii. 31.) and again, “ Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up ;" (John ii. 19.) or, "within three days I will build another made without hands." (Mark xiv. 58.) But that which is most used, both in our Saviour's prediction before his death, and in the apostles' language after the resurrection, is, that he "rose from the dead the third day."+ (Matt. xvi. 21. xvii. 23. xx. 19. Mark ix. 31. x. 34. Luke ix. 22. xviii. 33. xxiv. 7. 46. Acts x. 40. 1 Cor. xv. 4.) Now, according to the language of the Scriptures, if Christ were slain and rose the third day, the day in which he died is one, and the day on which he rose is another, and consequently there could be but one day and two nights between the day of his death and of his resurrection. As in the case of circumcision,

Ἕνεκα μὲν οὖν τοῦ δειχθῆναι τὸν θάνατον ἐν τῷ σώματι τριταῖον ἀνέστησε τοῦτο· ἵνα δὲ μὴ ἐπὶ πολὺ διαμεῖναν καὶ φθαρὲν τέλεον ὕστερον ἀναστήσας ἀπιστηθῇ, ὡς οὐκ αὐτὸ ἀλλ ̓ ἕτερον σῶμα φέρων (ἔμελλε γὰρ ἄν τις καὶ δι' αὐτὸν χρόνον ἀπιστεῖν τῷ φαινομένῳ καὶ ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι τῶν γενομένων)· διὰ τοῦτο οὐ πλείω τῶν τριῶν ἠνέσχετο, οὐδὲ ἐπὶ πολὺ τοὺς ἀκούσαντας αὐτοῦ περὶ τῆς · ἀναστάσεως παρείλκυσεν· ἀλλ ̓ ἔτι τῶν ἀκοῶν αὐτῶν ἔναυλον ἐχόντων τὸν λόγον, καὶ ἔτι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν ἐκδεχομένων, καὶ τῆς διανοίας αὐτῶν ἠρτημένης, καὶ ζώντων ἐπὶ γῆς ἔτι, καὶ ἐπὶ τό

πον ὄντων τῶν θανατωσάντων, καὶ μαρ τυρούντων περὶ τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ Κυριακοῦ σώματος, αὐτὸς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ· υἱὸς ἐν τριταίῳ διαστήματι τὸ γενόμενον νεκρὸν σῶμα ἔδειξεν ἀθάνατον καὶ ἄφθαρτον. S. Athanas. de Incarn. Verb. §. 26.

+ These several phrases are used; first, that Christ was in the heart of the earth τρεῖς ἡμέρας, καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας ̇ secondly, that he was to rise μετὰ τρεῖς ἡμέρας thirdly, that he would rebuild this temple ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις, and διὰ τριῶν ἡμερῶν· and lastly, that he rose τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, which is the most ge neral and constant form of speech.

the male child eight days old was to be circumcised, in which the day on which the child was born was one, and the day on which he was circumcised was another, and so there were but six complete days between the day of his birth and the day of his circumcision. The day of Pentecost was the fiftieth day from the day of the wave-offering; but in the number of the fifty days was both the day of the wave-offering and of Pentecost included; as now among the Christians still it is, Whitsunday is now the day of Pentecost, and Easter-day the day of the resurrection, answering to that of the wave-offering; but both these must be reckoned to make the number of fifty days. Christ then, who rose upon the first day of the week (as is confessed by all), died upon the sixth day of the week before: for if he had died upon the fifth, he had risen not upon the third, but the fourth day, as Lazarus did.* Being then it is most certain that our Saviour rose on the third day;t being,

according to the constant language of the Greeks and Hebrews, he cannot be said to rise to life on the third day, who died upon any other day, between which and the day of his resurrection there intervened any more than one day: therefore those other forms of speech which are far less frequent, must be so interpreted as to be reduced to this expression of the third day so often reiterated.

*

When therefore we read that after three days he would raise the temple of his body, we must not imagine that he would continue the space of three whole days dead, and then revive himself; but upon the third day he would rise again: as Joseph and his mother, "after three days found him in the temple," (Luke ii. 46.) that is, the third day after he tarried behind in Jerusalem. And when we read, that he was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, we must not look upon these nights as distinct from the days, but as Moses spake, τρίτης" and τεταρταῖος, διὰ τετάρτης. to speak of the critical days, gives Thus being Christ did certainly rise notice that by a day he understands Ty Tρiry nμépa, he did rise according not that space of time, which is opto the Greeks Tpiratos' and according posed to the night, but that which to the same then he must also rise comprehendeth both the night and παρὰ μίαν, that is, one day only inter- the day: Ἡμέραν δηλονότι παρ' ὅλον τὸν ceding between the day of his death λόγον εἰρησομένοις, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ἡμέρας and the day of his resurrection. αὐτῆς μόνης συνεστῶσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς χρόνου· καθάπερ οὖν, καὶ τὸν μῆνα τριάκοντα ἡμερῶν εἶναι λέγομεν, οὐ μόνον τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον, ὃν ὑπὲρ τῆς γῆς ὁ ἥλιος φαίνεται, προσαγορεύοντες ἡμέραν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν τῆς νυκτὸς αὐτῷ προστιθέντες, οὕτως δέ πως καὶ τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν πέντε καὶ ἐξήκοντα καὶ τριακοσίων pepwv elvai papev. De Crisibus, 1. ii. c. 2. This is observed by St. Basil to be also the custom of the Scriptures, upon these words in Genesis: Εγένετο οὖν ἑσπέρα, ἐγένετο πρωΐ, τὸ ἡμερονύκτιον λέγει· οὐκ ἔτι προσηγόρευσεν, ἡμέρα καὶ νὺξ, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἐπικρατοῦντι τὴν πᾶσαν προσηγορίαν ἀπένειμε. Ταύτην ἂν καὶ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γραφῇ τὴν συνήθειαν εὕροις, ἐν τῇ τοῦ χρόνου μετρήσει, ἡμέρας ἠριθμημένας, οὐχὶ δὲ καὶ νύκτας perd rv μep@v. In Hexaem. Hom. 2. Now being generally in all computations of time, as St. Basil observeth, ἐν τῇ τοῦ χρόνου μετρήσει, a day was taken for the whole space of day and night; and as the evening and morning signifieth the same, that is a day: and 2300 evenings and mornings no more than so many days; and so three days and three nights in the computation of time signifieth no more than three days, (For "God called the light day, and the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day, and

* A night and a day in the Hebrew language, not used to compositions, is the same with the Greek νυχθήμερον οι ἡμερονύκτιον, η ΤΗΝ ΟΙ ΠΡΟ “The evening and the morning were the first day.” For though "God called the light day, and the darkness he called night," yet at the same time that day and that night was called day. Gen. i. 5. So that the same word in the same verse signifeth both the natural and artificial day. And the evening and the morning are sometimes put instead of the day; as Dan. viii. 14. ΠΙΝΔΟ Τα 99 της " Unto two thousand and three hundred days:” and verse 26, 2 which we translate, the vision of the evening and the morning," but might be rather translated in reference to the former, the vision of the days, viz. the 2300 days before spoken of. Now though a day be thus diversely taken, yet in the measuring of any time, which containeth in it both days and nights, a day is always taken in that sense, in which it comprehendeth both day and night. Thus Galen, who is very punctual and exact in all his language, and full of expositions of the words he uses, to prevent mistakes, being