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raised not up , y so be that the dead rise pot . . 1 Cor . xv . 14 , 15 . And agaio > pauJ , id his discourse upon Mars' Hill , has this expression : Became he hath appointed a day 9 in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men , in that he hath ratsea ^ Mmfrom the dead . Acts fcvii .
31 . And , once more , we have another declaration to the same effect in the speech of Peter to Cornelius , Acts x . 39 , 40 , 42 : And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews , and in Jerusalem ; to horn they slew mid hanged on a tree : him God raised up the third day , and shewed him openly . And he commanded us to preach unto the people , and to testify that it is he who was
ordained of God to be the Judge of the quick and the dead . But multiplied quotations would only occupy space , aud the most superficial reader of the New Testament must have perceived that the death of Jesus is hardly ever mentioned without allusion to his rising on the third day ; for the difficulty to my mind has always been , how the evidence of a future state is dependent on the fact of the
resurrection . The authority of our Saviour was sufficiently established by the miracles he wrought in his life-time ; he declared our future existence , aud , as a disciple of his , I rely most fully on his promise .
His resurrection was unique : as to our existence in heaven , which is all we are concerned to know , it proves nothing , as far as I can judge . My conviction of immortality would have been the same , had he never appeared to his disciples , but ascended at ouce to his Father . The
Materialist may , perhaps , nud an argument in it to support his opinions : but even he might dispense with it , since he lias the assurance of a future state given by one who proved that he spoke with authority ; and whatever his speculative sentiments as to the nature of the body
we shall receive , he can safely trust that the divine promise shall not pass away . To his disciples Christ ' s visible appear , ance after his crucifixion was highly useful and important ; we know their earthly expectations and their despondency when these were dissipated by his death . We trusted this had been he who would have redeemed Israel , was their saying ; and when he made himself known to them , their hopes revived , and they aavr that the divine scheme was not fully disclosed . Had they not seen him aud handled him aud conversed with him , they would in all probability have returnee ! to their
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fornier occupations , and dismissed the subject from their thoughts a&a deitssion they had laboured under . They would not have been prepared for the effusion of the Holy Spirit on the day of Peute-r cost , if they had not previously had converse Svitli him , and were assured that be still lived to help ou the work . Jesns prophesied his death and resurrection ,
but more , 1 apprehend , for the sake of his disciples than as a circumstance that concerned the evidence of his religion to believers in all future ages . The apostles triumphantly asserted the fact of his resurrection as the removal of their own prejudices , and the condemnation of the unbelieving Jews of their day . But the
interest , L apprehend , of the fact is lost to us who have none of those prejudices that first existed , which it was instrumental in removing : and we must re * gard it as a fact of the same nature as the other miracles , standing upon the same foundation as they , but not more affecting the evidence of our immortality .
But this is not the prevailing impression among believers - Influenced by the frequent mention of the resurrection , they imagine it has some special connexion with the doctrine of immortality : and m all the sermons i have met with on the resurrection , the practical application is taken up in enforcing the proof derived
from the one to the other . I do not say it is not the duty of every minister to insist upon the resurrection : I do it my-« elf , and should deem myself guilty of dereliction , did I omit to do so ; but I really think we strain our point , that we injure the cause with Infidels , when we treat of the fact of the resurrection as
disconnected with the other miracles , and having a separate bearing upon the grand doctrine of the gospel . All enlightened Deists profess to believe in a future state : what they want is , I imagine , an assurance , a positive promise \ the doctrine is too grand , too Immense , to rest upon vague inference , especially
when so many adverse appearances present themselves . It is this promise that Christianity gives , and in this it yields the com pie test evidence human beings can desire ; the destiny is known only to God ; and God declares , by Jesus , what our destiny Is . The resurrection I cannot see gives any additional proof : it is a part of the series of infracted that established the diviive com mission of Jesus , and there is no propriety in distinguishing it from them , and assigning it a separate , a peculiar use . The late Oeorge Walker , of Notting-
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MtAoe Unaous Correspondence * 36 i
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1829, page 351, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2572/page/55/
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