El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-04-03

| Yet, strange to say, that in the face
of such an array of testimony, there
have always been those who called IN
| question the resurrection of Jesus.
J That His body was missing from the
| tomb on the morning of the third day,
none have ever dou bted. But how did
it get away? That is the question.
| The Oldest theOry-the only one
presented by the enemies OF Jesus that
| is worthy of notice, dates back to the
morning of the resurrection. Ihat ls
that the body of Jesus was stolen away
while the soldiers slept.
| Before given credence to such a
theory we must bear In mind that the
tomb was sealed with the seal OF the
| Roman government and that the
penalty for breaking that seal was
death to the culprit. We must also
bear in mind that at the time the theft
is said to have taken place, the tom
was guarded by Is Roman soldiers.
Soldiers said to have been the best the
world has ever known. 1t 1t at al
likely that Is such soldiers would all
have gone to sleep at post OF duty at
the same time? and that too where the
penalty for such an act, according to
military discipline, has always been
death. If such be true it is the only
case of the kind that is recorded in the
history of the world. One thing is
evidently true. Either they were
| asleep or they were not asleep;
If they were not asleep the few tim
| i'd desiples of Jesus, who fOrsook him
at the first intimation of danger, did
not suddenly become so bold as to face
| the Roman soldiers, defy the law OF the
nation, break the seal of the government
and bear the body away. To believe
this would require more credulity than
to believe the resurrection itself.
But if we grant for moment tha at
their story was true aud that they were
asleep; how in the name of God L ask
would they know whether the body was
stolen or not and if it was who took it =?
The thought is too ridiculous to be
entertained, seriously, for single
moment.
1t would seem then that but one way
is left out of the difficulty viz: to &C
cept the story of the Gospel, And If so
what a ray of hope 1t lends to the fut-
ure, How it reconciles us to the ter
rible ordeal we call death, if assured,
that by trusting in the Lord Jesus we
shall one day wake in his image and
live with him forever.
Trinity Church.
On Sunday morning Rev. b. c.
Mathews, presiding elder, Ell PesO
district M. E. church &c., preached to
good congregation. In the evening
Rev. J. F. Corbin. presiding elder,
Mexican border conference M. E.
church south preached from the text,
"He lie not here but risen. behold the
place where they laid him." Rev.
Corbin demonstrated in q mastery
manner, using arguments based upon
practical legal standpoint, that
Christ was indeed raised from the
dead. He raised up the intidels reasons
for believing that Christ did not rise,
from the dead and the well worn
argument, that he was stolen by his
disciples.
bv aid of the testimony of those that
were placed as a guard into the sepul-
chre, that up to the time
the soldiers were bought out by the
Jews, they said. she is indeed risen
from the dead" and then refuted it by
the plain common sense statement,
that his body was not stolen while the
guard slept by saying, that under no
conditions could 60 Roman soldiers,
knowing their oath to their Imperial
Republic. and knowing the punishment
that would be theirs if they could
have for the small space of two minutes
slept, while the apostles were break
ing the seal, removing the stone and,
taking the body from the tomb of
JOs0pI VI ATlmdGuSO, NSAu ny CAolhlA-
ing the testimony of all of the persons,
with whom he communicated he
showed that Christ did indeed rise from
the dead. "Not only did Peter James
and John see him on earth, but Stephen
looking up from earth while suffering
his martyrdom, saw him, sitting up on
the right band of God the father.
Paul saw him, and John the beloved
Apostle. exiled the tyramincal Nero,
to the Island of Patmos had the beau
tiful vision to console his last lonely
years.
Here Rev. Corbin drew a pathetic
picture Ct the resurrection portraying
the meeting of loved or es, on the other
shore, showing how terrible it would
be bad Christ not risen from the dead,
and impaired unto us like privilege,
how awful the parting upon earth
wculo be, with no prospect of meeting
the loved ones in the land where
there shall be no more sorrow, or woe,
or parting: and at last finished up with
an exhortatiOn to sinners to come to
Jesus, for now is the accepted time
now is the day of salvation"
After the sermon the sacrement of
the Lords Supper was administered.
Presbyterian Church..
Yesterday morning at the Presby-
terrain church, the pastor, Rev. 81. W.
preached an Easter sermon from
Phil. 3:16-"That / may know the pow
err of His resurrection" The subject
was, "The Power of the Resurrection.
The following isan abstract of the dis
A few weeks ago the greatest of mod
ern English preachers, DR.. Joseph Par
ker of London, met with the death of
his wife. That afternoon he wrote
these words on his church door: "Mrs.
Parker is not. She is not here. She
has risen. With Christ" Handel.
the greatest musician who charmed
the world with the magic of his music