The Tupelo journal., 1904-04-15

exist with Christians to-day. First sO1
all, their hearts were filed with doubts
and with a sense of their disloyalty and
faithlsssness to their Lord. In the
second place, they We're in mortal
dread of the Jewish rulers, and lastly
their life's hopes and plans, their ex
pectation of filing a glorious mission,
we're all shattered and gone, and they
knew not whittier to turn. A doubt
ing ard guilty heart, a cowardly fear
of enemies. a dark, uncertain future
what kind of condition was this?
Surely there vas no peace there. Sure
~ it could not be expected that those
disciples were ready or able to do eff
ficlent or faithful service. And how
can il be expected of you and me that
we can serve u Lord with honor and
success while doubt and guilty con
science crowd our hearts? What kind
Of soldiers will We make if we fear
and tremble before the enemy and dare
not stand boldly forth for truth and
righteousness? To what purpose win
we serve if we do not realize Il high
calling and destiny? How is it with
you. dear Christian? Are you a stran-
ger to that peace which drives out doubt,
which endures with holy courage,
which inspires with a conscious mis-
sion? 1t is not your Lords will for
you. He longs to come and stand in
your midst and speak peace to your
heart; to take away all doubt, to give
you His courage, to POINT you to your
place and purpose iE life. And the
reason you have not that peace is be-
cause the resurrection of your Lord
is not a real, living, vital hope within
you. You do not realize the height and
depth and length and breadth OF its
meaning. You have accepted the fact
of Christ's resurrection, You believe
it much as those disciples believed 1t
as they talked in a vague and wonder
ing way about the miraculous events
of that day. You need to have Jesus
come and speak peace with all OF Its
fullness and sweetness to your heart,
even as He did to the disciples on that
first Resurrection Gay.
DEACE came to the disciples as they
L realized the literalness and mean
ing of the resurrection of Christ. And
so must peace come to the heart OF the
Christian always. The consciousness
that his Lord is a living Lord. a Lord
who is in Heaven at the right han OF
God, the Father, with the changed and
glorified body of the flesh which He
possessed during His earthly career,
must thrill his being, chasing away doubt,
giving heroism and deiniteness of pur-
pose. Oh, but you say. if | could only
have stood with those disciples in that
upper Don and beheld with the natural
eye the risen Lord, if l could have had
the convincing proof which was vouch-
safed to Thomas and put my fingers in
the nail prints in His hands and feet,
and thrust my hand in His side. then
would the resurrection of Christ be more
real and certain to ne, and it would eX-
ert a more powerful influence over my
life. All, faithless one, you forget what
Jesus said: Blessed are they that have
not seen, and yet have believed" You
forget how convincingly and overwhelm-
ingly God has testified to the resurrec-
ton of Christ by His witnesses during
those 40 days, until the company of dis
ciples gathered on Mount Olivet beheld
the risen Lord ascend into Heaven there
to remain until the Gospel had been
preached to every nation and His church
had been made complete. You forget
how to Paul was granted a vision OF
the risen Christ, and how Stephen saw
Heavens portals roll back and beheld
the risen and assembled Christ standing
at the right hand of God You forget
that we have a witness within, the Holy
Spirit, to testify of the Christ and make
real and certain to us all the wonderful
truth about Jesus crucifxion and res
direction. M
THE resurrection confirms and illu-
L inmates the sacrifice made on the
cross, it overcomes death, and it proves
the earnest of present conquest and I'LL
innate and glorious triumph. GA dead
Christ" says Edersheim, might, have
been a Teacher and a Wonder-Worker,
and remembered and loved as such.
But only a living and risen Christ
could be the Saviour, the Life, and
the Life-giver, and as such preached
to all men," And you remember how
forcibly Paul puts it to the CORN
thians, to whom some false teachers
were declaring that there was no res
direction. He says: eff the dead are
not raised, neither hath Christ been
raised; and if Christ hath not been
raised, your faith is vain; We are yet
in your sins" This fact of the resur-
rection is "the foundation of the
Church, the inscription of the banner
of her armies, the strength and COM
fort of every Christian heart, and the
grand hope of humanity" How glori-
Gus and full of meaning is the cross
when we know that on the other side
is the empty tomb and the risen Lord.
What did the cross mean to those dis
ciples until they understood the reality
of Christ's resurrection? They knew
that cross had borne the body of their
Lord. They saw His body embalmed in
spices and laid in the sepulcher. But
think you that during those dark and
awful days they realized what that
cross meant to them? Think you that
they realized that Jesus had died for
their sins and the sins of the whole
world? Think you that they had q
sense of sins forgiven? tell you nay
for such was impossible until they
realized and understood His resurrec-