The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-11-17

1T only augmented and AGGRAVATED
his power. He was killed and buried,
but he somehow rose from his grave
to the spiritual leadership of the
world. He did pass, through his
death, into a condition of far more
potency and effectiveness than he
had displayed before his crucifixion.
He rose up to higher power. His
Resurrection is fact.
1t is an admitted truth that the
Christian church never would have
arisen if the disciples had not had
mistaken faith in the Resurrection of
Jesus. Past all question they be-
lieved that they had seen their risen
Lord. But on the question how they
had seen him they were themselves
divided as the narratives unmistaka
bly, show.
when, with an obvious awe, they
transport the risen Jesus mysteriously
from place to place, making him van
ish from table, and enter through
closed doors, and appear now in one
form and now in another, SO as not
always to be recognizable through
long conversations even by disciples
familiar with his person, they seem
intent on showing that he is invested
with attributes of immortal spirits.
Yet on one of these very occasions he
is made to say, See my hands and
my feet; handle me and see; for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye
see me have.' And, in further dis
proof of his incorporeality, stress is
repeatedly laid upon the palpable
signs of identity = the eating of
broiled fish, the print of the nails,
the wound in the side Mortineau.
In explanation of these antinomies
Westcott says: "The Lord rose from
the grave, and those who had known
him before, knew that he was the
same, and yet changed" 058.)
But the question as to the mode of
Jesus manifestation to his disciples
is a borderland question, and must
needs be obscure. Not until we can
see how the notifying passes into
the living can we see how spirit
emancipated from the flesh can mani
fest itself to spirit still clothed in
the flesh. Scholarship, science,
knowledge, cannot follow Jesus be-
yond the precincts of this life, and
decide upon the nature and potencies
of his resurrection form. They can
follow him to his death, note his alb
sence, and take cognizance of the
signs of his Temperance, but be-
yond this they cannot go. There is
literary record of the fact of Jesus
Temperance, and there is living
historical record of the effects pro-
duced by that re appearance, and
this exhausts the known possibilities
of attestation.
But the Christian scholar need not,
indeed cannot stop here. He per-
ceives that the temperance of Jesus
after his death marks, in fact, CEN
trail epoch in the strange history of
man upon this earth. The belief
that he did re-appear has been the
most effective energy ever libel a
ted in the human spirit. By open
ing up the vistas of eternity it has
changed the whole aspect of this
earthly life and radically altered it's
aims, motives and conduct. 1t has
made life prominently worth living,
and has endowed it's common acts
with significance and grandeur. The
scholar perceives that the resurrec-
ton of Jesus has intensified, univer-
salized and popularized the intuition
of Immortality, making it the com
mon property of common men, by
means of disclosure that all can see.
1t places the temporary dweller on
this earthly ball in close sympathy
with all who have lived here before
him and gone onward into the higher
life, as we'll as with all the unknown
hosts of Gods creatures who live in
other worlds.
He perceives that these effects re-
quire an adequate cause, He cannot
join with those who seem to resent
the intrusion of God into his world
for such purpose, unless such in
trusion be made under the forms of
known law. He cannot conceive of a
God who would not take special pains
to show his intelligent creatures what
is before them, and who would not in
the fullness of times, send his Son to
be the Saviour of the world. The re-
of Jesus in some tangible
form not only presents no inherent
improbability, but his failure to re-
appear would present an improbable
ity.
The Christian scholar has lost his