SECTION XXVII.

Who suffered for our

salvation:

descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.

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Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?" was the question of the crucified Jesus, put to the two disciples, as they went to the village called Emmaus.

"Thus it behoved Him to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day," was the answer of the Saviour Himself to His disciples, after His resurrection.

What need have we of further testimony?

The Scriptures furnish us with abundant evidence of Christ's sufferings and resurrection.

"We see Jesus, who was made little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor; that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.

"For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto

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glory, to make the Captain of our Salvation perfect through sufferings."—Heb. ii. 9, 10.

"Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith; who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God.”—Heb. xii. 2.

"He learned obedience from the things which He suffered; and, being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.”—Heb. v. 9. See Acts xvii. 3.; 1 Pet. iv. 1.; Acts iii. 15.

"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."-John ii. 19.

“The third day I shall be perfected.”—Luke xiii. 32.

"As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”—Matt. xii. 40.

"And the third day He shall be raised again.”Matt. xvii. 23.

These were the predictions of Christ, before His death; which were literally fulfilled by His resurrection from the dead the third day: for

"Upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, and found

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the stone rolled away; and they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments; and said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? he is not here, but is risen: remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again."-Luke xxiv. 1-8.

THUS "Christ" "became obedient unto death." -Phil. ii. 8.

And "made peace through the blood of the cross." -Col. i. 20.

"Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God: being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison."-1 Pet. iii. 18, 19.

See also Psalm xvi. 10.; Eph. iv. 9, 10.; Acts. ii. 31; 1 Pet. iv. 6. Et passim.

SECTION XXVIII.

He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

"Now that He ascended, what is it, but that He

also descended first into the lower parts of the earth.” -Eph. iv. 9.

"He that descended, is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things."-Eph. iv. 10.

up

"What! and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend where He was before !"-John vi. 62.

"And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight."—Acts i. 9.

from you

"This same Jesus, which is taken. ир. into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.Acts i. 11. .

"So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God."--Mark xvi. 19.

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where He sitteth at the right hand of God."-Col. iii. 1.

"I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and God and your God."-John xx. 17.

to my

"I charge thee, therefore, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, at His appearing and His kingdom."-2 Tim. iv. 1.

"It is He that was ordained of God to judge the quick and the dead."-Acts x. 42.

"For this end Christ both died, and rose, and

revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living."-Rom. xiv. 9.

See also Acts xvii. 31.; Matt. xxv. 31. et passim.

SECTION XXIX.

At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give account for their own works.

And they that have done good, shall go into everlasting life; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire.

"To give account to Him, who is ready to judge the quick and the dead.”—1 Pet. iv. 5.

"Verily! verily! I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.” -John v. 25.

“All that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation."-John v. 28, 29.

"When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him; then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth the sheep