The Newtown bee., 1899-04-14

friends. Some persO whose charac-
tiers formerly had been under ban, at
least of suspicion. Publicans, harlots,
sinners. Shall their word and decisions
stand for the overthrow of all former
conditions of death and life, when their
claim Is contrary to nature and to the
claim of what the world would call wOr-
thy Weldon or reliable witnesses. This,
so far b | know, is the case made out
against this doctrine by those who re-
fuse to accept it as true.
WHAT ARE THE CLAIMS PRESENTED IN
FAVOR OF IT?
l. That Christ was crucified and died on
the Cross and was buried in JOseph's
tomb, thus He was dead. 2. That the
tomb was sealed with the seal OF the
mighty Emperor and guarded by a
watch from ROme's intrepid legiOns. 3
That the morning of the third day after
burial when friends, who knew nothing
of the seal and watch but only of the
great stone which covered the entrance
TO the tomb, went to perform certain sad
yet dutiful rites for the dead they loved
so tenderly while living, they found the
stone rolled away ana The tomb empty
That ia, no dead body was there, but
hey saw what they believed to be an
angel who told them that Christ was
risen from the dead, as He himself had
said. Fleeing in haste from the strange
sight they meet the loved Master Hlm-
self and worship Him. His appear
ance to Peter, to CleOpas, to the ten die
ciples, TO the eleven and to above five
hundred greater part of whom were
alive when Paul wrote the epistle from
which our text 10 taken. 5. The declara
ton Of the disciples to this fact in Jeru
Gu lnTn wi pFo Of a II TOlaRaa ir0nnaitiOp
of this kind could not have been expect
ed to pass unexpOsed, and of Paul who q
very astute and learned Pharisee would
not have been very liKely to have risked
his life for an imposition. g. The fact
Of the rapid growth of the early church
with this doctrine nailed to the mast
head of gospel truth, as the banner under
which the church was to stand or fall,
and it stood. 7. The fact that whatever
intelligence, civilization and knowledge
are uppermost, there this doctrine il
most thoroughly believed and trusted.
s The we'll attested fact that Christ
raised Lazarus from the dead after cor
ruption had begun her desolatory work,
thereby showing His power over death.
These are all we'll attested facts of his
tory and they seem to me to give very
trong support to the claim that Christ
did rise from the dead.
My second thought is, the doctrines
dependent upon this as fact. There
are three great and fundamental doc
trines dependent on this fact.
If CHRIST DID RISE FROM THE DEAD
THEY STAND.
II he did not rise from the dead, they
fall. And first-Preaching. That is the
presentation of Christ as the hope of the
in in kaNsa nfa
from the dead, then it is utterly useless
60 present Him as the one sent TO recon
eile God to man or man to God. He is
no more likely to be helpful in this re-
gard than any other great teacher of
noble life and character Respondent
with the brightest virtues. Ii Christ did
not rise from the dead, preaching, in His
tame, Is vain. Yea, more than that, it
is false and misleading, dishOnoring God
and condemninR man. 1t is entirely use
less and all the preaching from Paul
down to this day has been q useless ex-
penditure Of money, force and vitality,
If it be true that Christ did not rise from
the dead. Second-But not only is
preaching vain but believing is vain also.
10 me, and | say it with profound rever-
ance, faith in dead Christ Is no better
chan faith In a dead Socrates, or in a
dead Plato, aud not so effectual as
faith in the blood of bulls and goats and
ashes of an heifer, when they point to-
wards living Christ. Where Is the doc
trlne of faith il Christ did not rise from
the deadP 1t Is gone, lost, the founda-
ton is swept away. The hope it created
in the soul for it's cheer and comfort ia
turned into dead ashes at our feet.
Friends, all, yea, even you who have not
yet received Christ by faith as your Saw.
Jour, ask, is not the idea of Christ,
dead, buried, unrisen, like all mortal bo-
dies, "earth to earth, ashes to ashes dust
to DUST" living again no more than Paul,
or Peter, or John, an appalling thought.
Sorrowing hearts, broken, breaking,
under the weight of your sorrow but
cheered and comtorted by your faith in
a living Christ, can you bear the added
burden to your already over-laden soul,
that your faith in Christ is vain, as it is !
says Paul, Ii so be that Christ did not
rise from the dead. Hearts, that will
yet drink the bitter cup of sorrow, are
you ready TO add to the bitterness of |
that cup the death and burial of q vain
faith, as you must, II so be that Christ
was not raised from the dead.
Preaching vain. Faith vain. Is not |
this sufficient? Does not the heart con-
demned In sin already crv in its desola- |
tion, "my burden is greater than can /
bear" But IL Christ did not rise from |
the dead there are bitter, bitter dregs to
be taken from the cup, and there is no
they must be drunk by all,
for not only is preaching vain, faith vain,
but there liz no salvation. 1--WE are vet
In our sins y Hence, Third The doc
trine of salvation through Christ is flu
Tile, It Christ be not risen from the dead
A dead Saviour is not Saviour, but a
broken reed piercing MS through with