The Catechizing of Families, Chapter 14
CHAP. XIV. The Third Day he rose again from the Dead.
Q. 1. HOw was Christ said to be three dayes in the Grave?
A. He was there part of the Sixth day, all the Seventh, and part of the First.aMat. 12. 39, 40. & 16. 4. Ioh. 20. Mat. 28.
Q. 2. Is it certain that Christ rose from the Dead, the third day?
A. As certain as any Article of our Faith, Angels witnessed it: Mary first saw him and spake with him: Two Disciples going to Emmaus, saw him, to whom he opened the Scriptures concerning him: Peter and others Fishing, saw him, and spake and eat with him: The Eleven assembled, saw him: Thomas that would not else believe, was called to see the print of the Nails, and put his Finger into his pierced side. He was seen of above Five hundred Brethren at once: He gave the Apostles their Commission and Instructions, and his Blessing, and ascended Bodily to Heaven in their sight: And afterward appeared in Glory to Stephen and Paul: But I have before given you the proof of the Gospel, and must not repeat it.b1 Cor. 15. 5, 6.
Q. 3. Was it foreknown that Christ would rise?
A. Yes: It was foretold by the Prophets, and expresly and often by himself to his Apostles and the Iews, and therefore they set a Sealed Stone with a Guard … Souldiers on the Sepulcher to watchit.cAct. 26. 23. Mat. 20. 19. Mark 8. 31. & 9. 31. & 10. 34. Luke 24. 7. 46. Ioh. 20. 9. Rom. 14. 9. 1 Thes. 4. 14.
Q. 4. It is a wonder that the Iews th…n believed no… in him?
A. The Rulers were now more afraid than before that Christ would by the People be Proclaimed their King, and then the Romans destroy their City and Nation; for they feared Men more than God: And withal they had put him to death on that account, a… if his making himself a King had been Rebellio… against Caesar, and [King of the Iews] was writte… as his Crime by Pilate on his Cross: and so they were engaged against him as a Rebel, though he told them hi… Kingdom was not a Worldly one: And they seemed to believe that he did all his Miracles by the Devil a… a Conjurer, and therefore that he was raised by tha… Devil: dMatth. 12.which was the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost: And as for the Common People, they deceived them by hiring the Souldiers to say, Tha… his Disciples stole his Body while they slept.eMatth. 28. 3.
Q. But why would Christ appear to none but his Disciples?
A. We are not fit to give God a Law: His works are done in infinite Wisdom. But we may see, 1. That they who had hardned their Hearts against all his Doctrine, and the Miracles of his Life, and maliciously put him to Death as a Blasphemer, a Conjurer, and a Traitor to Caesar, were unworthy and unmeet to be the Witnesses of his Resurection: And its like it would but have excited their rage to have tryed a new Persecution. His Resurrection being the first act of his triumphant Exaltation, none were so fit to see him as those that had followed him in his Sufferings: Even as wicked Men are not meet (as Paul was) to be …rapt up into Paradise and the Third Heavens, and hear the unutterable things.fAct. 10. 41. & 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 22. & 4. 2. 33. & 17, 18. Heb. 6. 2.
2. The Witnesses whom he chose were enow and fit Persons for that Office, being to be sent abroad to Proclaim it to the World.
And God confirmed their Testimony by such abundant Miracles, of which you heard before.g1 Cor. 15. 4. 6. Heb. 2. 3, 4, 5.
3. And yet he left not the Infidels without convincing means: As he before told them, that he would raise in three Dayes the Temple of his Body, when they destroyed it; so they saw the Earthquake, the Sun darkned, the Vail of the Temple rent at his Death; and their Souldiers saw the Angels that terrified them, and told the Rulers what they saw: And after all, it was to Paul a Persecutor (and partly to his company) that Christ appeared.hMat. 26. & 27. Luke 23. Act. 9.
Q. 6. Why must Christ rise from the Dead?
A. You may as well ask, Why he must be our Savior?
1. If he had not risen, Death had conquered him, and how could he have saved us that was overcome and lost himself.i1 Cor. 15. 13, 14. 20.
2. He could not have received his own promised Reward; even his Kingdom and Glory: It was for the Joy that was set before him, that he enendured the Cross and despised the shame: Therefore God gave him a Name above every Name, to which every created Knee must bow.kHeb. 12. 3, 4. Phil. 2. 7, 8.
3. His Resurrection was to be the chief of all those Miracles by which God witnessed that he was his So… ▪ and the chief Evidence by which the World was to be convinced of his Truth,lRom. 1. 4▪ 1. Pet 1. 3, 4. & 3. 2…. Ioh. 11. 24. 25. and so was used in their Preaching by the Apostles. That Christ rose from the Dead, is the chief Argument that makes us Christians.
4. The great executive parts of Christs saving Office were to be performed in Heaven, which a dead Man could not do. How else should he have Inceded for us as our heavenly High-priest? How should he have sent down the Holy Ghost to renew us? How should he as King have governed and protected his Church on Earth unto the End? How should he have come again in Glory to Judge the World? and how should we have seen his Glory (as the Mediator o… Fruition) in the Heavenly Kingdom.m1 Pet. 1. 3, 4. & 3. 21. Phil. 3. 10, 11. 19, 20, 21. Rom. 6▪ 5. Heb. 4. 14, 15. & 6. 20. & 7. 16, 17, 18. & 8▪ 1, 2, 3. & 10. 21, 22.
Q. 7. I perceive then that Christ's Resurrection is t… us an Article of the greatest use? What use must … make of it?
A. You may gather it by what is said, 1. By this you may be sure that he is the Son of God and his Gospel True.nRom. 8. 34. Col. 2. 12, 15. Col. 3. 1. 4, 5. 2. By this you may be sure that his Sacrifice on the Cross was accepted as sufficient. 3. By this you may be sure that Death is Conquered, and we may boldly trust our Saviour, who tasted and overcame Death, with our departing Souls. 4. By this you may be sure that we have a powerful High-priest and Intercessour in Heaven, by whom we may come with reverend boldness unto God. 5. By this we may know that we have a powerful King, both to obey and to trust with the Churches Interest and our own. 6. By this we may know that we have a Head still living, who will send down his Spirit to gather his Chosen, to help his Ministers, to Sanctifie and Comfort his People, and prepare them for Glory. 7. By this we are assured of our own Resurrection, and taught to hope for our final Justification and Glory. 8. And by this we are taught that we must Rise to Holiness of Life.nRom. 8. 34. Col. 2. 12, 15. Col. 3. 1. 4, 5.