dead? In order to bring this enquiry to a clear and satisfactory issue, the first question to be examined is, Can God raise the dead?

No one disputes that we are composed of a soul and a body, each possessing properties peculiar and distinct, and yet reciprocally acting upon, and inseparably connected with, one another. Now it is certain, that this soul and body must have been created by some Pre-existing Cause; for they have not been from all eternity; neither could they create themselves; neither have they power to create any thing. This Pre-existing Cause is evidently God. Out of nothing he called us into being, and made us what we are. If, therefore, we acknowledge him as our Creator, we by a necessary consequence confess, that he has absolute power over us, and can do with us as he pleases. * " With him all things are possible." Out of nothing he forms a body; into that body he breathes the breath of life; at an appointed hour he withdraws that life;

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and causes the body to return to the earth out of which it was taken. Now if we do not allow, that he can restore and réanimate the body in any manner that he chooses; if we do not admit, that he can make it, even after its corruption, the same body in every respect that it was before, or the same body changed and fashioned after a glorious manner, we call in question his Almighty Power; we do as much as say, that the production of a being out of nothing was a miracle which he could do, but that the reanimation of that being, after it had undergone the change of death, was a work beyond the reach of his ability to perform; in short, we do as much as assert, that there are things which he cannot accomplish; and when once we entertain this opinion, there is an end to all hope of coming to any satisfactory conclusions upon subjects of religious faith. Before, therefore, we can expect, by arguments drawn from Reason and Revelation, to convince any man of the certainty of the Resurrection of the Dead, we must first obtain his assent to this fundamental doctrine, namely, that

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"with God all things are possible." If he dispute this, all reasoning with him will be in vain; all attempts to prove the truth of the Christian Doctrine will be as fruitless, as arguing with the winds and waves; if he admit it, a groundwork is laid, on which we may build with safety and with hope. Concluding that all of you believe most firmly, that God can raise the dead, and raise them in any manner, and to any state, he pleases, I proceed to the next question that naturally follows, Did God raise Christ from the dead?

With respect to the fact of Christ's Resurrection, we, not having been eye-witnesses, must rest our faith in it upon the testimony which we have concerning it. Either it did, or it did not, take place. On this point it is necessary that we receive the most complete satisfaction the mind can demand with regard to past events. Such proofs must be adduced as the nature of the case requires, and such as we cannot, on any rational grounds, disbelieve or resist. Of those things, of which we have not been actual witnesses, we always judge according to the evidence which they bring with them; and if this evidence be clear and reasonable, and free from all imputation, we believe and are persuaded that they did occur. We naturally and very justly give more credence to facts handed down to us by competent witnesses, than to events, of the truth of which we have no means of judging but by report. In the latter case, we are justified in entertaining a considerable degree of doubt; for although we have the assertion, which may be true, we have not the testimony necessary to prove it so; but in the former, we cannot withhold our belief without incurring the charge of incredulity, provided those witnesses be honest men as well as competent judges. Now the Disciples were both. They were competent judges, for they declared that to be true, which they saw with their eyes, and of which they had frequent opportunities of being convinced beyond the possibility of a doubt. * "This Jesus," said St. Peter,

"hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses."*"For I," wrote St. Paul to the Corinthians, " delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Sciptures; and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that he was seen of above five hundred brethen at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep; after that he was seen of James, then of all the Apostles, and last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."