March 11

But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits.—1 Corinthians 15:28.

CHRIST is the first fruits; he is already risen from the dead: for he alone could not be held by death. "Free among the dead." Death was sin's eldest daughter, and the grave-clothes were her first mantle; but Christ was conqueror of both, and came to take that away, and disarm this. This was a glory fit for the Head of mankind, but it was too great and too good to be easily believed by incredulous and weak-hearted men. It was at first doubted by all that were concerned; but they that saw it had no reason to doubt any longer. But what is that to us, who saw it not? Yes, very much: "They doubted very much, that by their confirmation, we might be established, and doubt no more," saith St. Austin. Mary Magdalene saw him first, and she ran with joy, and said she had seen the Lord, and that he was risen from the dead; but they believed her not;—After that, divers women together saw him," and they told it, but had no thanks for their pains, and obtained no credit among the disciples: the two disciples that went to Emmaus saw him, talked with him, ate with him, and they ran and told it: they told true, but nobody believed them: then St. Peter saw him, but he was not yet got into the chair of the catholic church, they did not think him infallible, and so they believed him not at all. Five times in one day he appeared; for after all this he appeared to the eleven; they were indeed transported with joy and wonder; but they would scarce believe their own eyes, and though they saw him, they doubted. Well, all this was not enough; he was seen also of James, and suffered Thomas to thrust his hand into his side, and appeared to St. Paul, and was seen by "five hundred brethren at once." So that there is no capacity of mankind, no time, no place, but had an ocular demonstration of his resurrection. He appeared to men and women, to the clergy and the laity, to sinners of both sexes; to weak men and to criminals, to doubters and deniers, at home and abroad, in public and in private, in their houses and in their journeys, unexpected and by appointment, betimes in the morning and late at night, to them in conjunction and to them in dispersion, when they did look for him, and when they did not; he appeared upon earth to many, and to St. Paul and St. Stephen from heaven; so that we can require no greater testimony than all these are able to give us; and they saw for themselves, and for us too, that the faith and certainty of the resurrection of Jesus might be conveyed to all that shall die, and follow Christ in their own order.

Now this being matter of fact, can not be supposed infinite, but limited to time and place, and, therefore, to be proved by them who, at that time, were upon the place; good men and true, simple and yet losers by the bargain, many and united, confident and constant, preaching it all their life, and stoutly maintaining it at their death; men that would not deceive others, and men that could not be deceived themselves, in a matter so notorious, and so proved, and so seen. And if this be not sufficient credibility in a matter of fact, as this was, then we can have no story credibly transmitted to us, no records kept, no acts of courts, no narratives of the days of old, no traditions of our fathers, no memorials of them in the third generation. Nay, if from these we have not sufficient causes and arguments of faith, how shall we be able to know the will of heaven upon earth? unless God do not only tell it once, but always, and not only always to some men, but always to all men. For if some men must believe others, they can never do it in any thing more reasonably than in this; and if we may not trust them in this, then, without a perpetual miracle, no man could have faith; for faith could never come by hearing, by nothing but seeing. But if there be any use of history, any faith in men, any honesty in manners, any truth in human intercourse; if there be any use of apostles or teachers, of embassadors or letters, of ears or hearing; if there be any such thing as the grace of faith, that is less than demonstration or intuition; then we may be as sure that Christ, the first-fruits, is already risen, as all these credibilities can make us. But let us take heed; as God hates a lie, so he hates incredulity; an obstinate, a foolish, and pertinacious understanding. What we do every minute of our lives, in matters of little and great concernment, if we refuse to do it in religion, which yet is to be conducted, as all human affairs are, by human instruments, and arguments of persuasion proper to the nature of the thing, it is an obstinacy as cross to human reason, as it is to Divine faith.

But this article was so clearly proved, that presently it came to pass that men were no longer ashamed of the cross, but it was worn upon breasts, printed in the air, drawn upon foreheads, carried upon banners, put upon crowns imperial; presently it came to pass that the religion of the despised Jesus did infinitely prevail; a religion that taught men to be meek and humble, apt to receive injuries, but unapt to do any; a religion that gave countenance to the poor and pitiful, in a time when riches were adored, and ambition and pleasure had possessed the heart of all mankind; a religion that would change the face of things, and the hearts of men, and break vile habits into gentleness and counsel; that such a religion, in such a time, by the sermons and conduct of fishermen, men of mean breeding and illiberal arts, should so speedily triumph over the philosophy of the world, and the arguments of the subtle, and the sermons of the eloquent, the power of princes and the interests of states, the inclinations of nature and the blindness of zeal, the force of custom and the solicitation of passions, the pleasures of sin and the busy arts of the devil; that is, against wit and power, superstition and willfulness, fame and money, nature and empire, which are all the causes in this world that can make a thing impossible; this, this is to be ascribed to the power of God, and is the great demonstration of the resurrection of Jesus. Every thing was an argument for it, and improved it; no objection could hinder it, no enemies destroy it; whatsoever was for them, it made the religion to increase; whatsoever was against them, made it to increase; sunshine and storms, fair weather or foul, it was all one as to the event of things; for they were instruments in the hands of God, who could make what himself should to be the product of any cause; so that if the Christians had peace, they went abroad and brought in converts: if they had no peace, but persecution, the converts came into them. In prosperity, they allured and enticed the world by the beauty of holiness; in affliction and trouble, they amazed all men by the splendor of their innocence and the glories of their patience; and quickly it was that the world became disciple to the glorious Nazarene, and men could no longer doubt of the resurrection of Jesus, when it became so demonstrated by the certainty of them that saw it, and the courage of them that died for it, and the multitude of them that believed it; who by their sermons and their actions, by their public offices and discourses, by festivals and eucharists, by arguments of experience and sense, by reason and religion, by persuading rational men, and establishing believing Christians, by their living in the obedience of Jesus, and dying for the testimony of Jesus, have greatly advanced his kingdom, and his power, and his glory, into which he entered after his resurrection from the dead. For he is the first-fruits; and if we hope to rise through him, we must confess that himself is first risen from the dead.