The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-20
SPEAKS ON POWER
 IF RESURRECTION Rev. s P. West At North Avon-
 dale Church WAS HOPE OF THE WORLD Calls Attention to Difference Between the Fact and the Power of the Fact
 of the Resurrection of
 Jesus Christ.
WAS HOPE OF THE WORLD

irpians if; 10.
 I come to speak to you this Easter morning on the fact and the power of the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. l do not deem it necessary to spend much time to convince you Of the fact of the resurrection. No other fact of history is so well established There is more ground for believing that Jesus Christ arose from the dead than there is for believing that Ma poleon commanded the French troops, or that Columbus discovered America. In addition to authentic history to the fact, it is attested by every one of the millions of earth who are leading Christian lives. If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins.'
 The first proclamation of risen Christ was made by the angel of the Lord descended from heaven" This angel said: He is risen." Can any one tn ink for a moment that an angel would have been dispatched from heaven to earth with a falsehood upon his lips? The first report the Roman soldiers made was true: Some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief priests all the things
 
 elders was immediately assembled, they took council" and gave large money to the soldiers, saying, say ye, His disciples came by night and stole Hiin while we slept" They furthermore promised that they would get the governors ears" and persuade him." and secure" them against the penal ty--dea ath-for being asleep while on duty. So, all the evidence we have against the fact is by men who ad- mtted they were asleep, and therefore could not possibly have known. The worlds hope lay in a risen Christ. f He did not rise, then His dead body might as well have been in one place as another The disciples would not have gained anything if they had "stole Him away" The argument IS conclusive to any one who believes the New Testament scriptures.
 There is marked difference between fact and the power of that fact It is fact that you and I exist, but the power of this fact will depend upon many considerations. We may be a blessing or a curse to our race. we may swell the praise of God in heaven, or add to the walls of the lost in per- dition. man may succeed or fai1 in business; the power of that fact is very different from the power of the fact of the success or failure of a human life.
 The fact, brought with the greatest power of all facts in this worlds his tory was the power of the resurrec- tion of Jesus Christ. The power of fact is the measure of it's effect, of it's influence. During the early life of over both animate and inanimate ere ation. The fish obeyed His purpose in bringing the coin to pay His tax, while the wild colt, upon which never man sat became docile and obedient to carry it's Lord. He had but to speak the word and the raging stfeam srb- sided: at His touch dead matter null tiplied until there was bread to feed the hungry thousands. By His wor1 the fig tree "withered and ded.' He entered the realm of disease, and the lame walked, sight was restored to the blind hearing to the deaf, and speech to the dumb Evil spirits were also subject to Him. He showed His power over death in others by rais- ing to life Jairus' daughter. the widows son, and Lazarus. But, now the Son of God Himself is dead Can He, being dead, raise Himself to lifea The mournful question had been asked centuries before, If a man die shall he live again?" In the cruciixion and death of Christ, His enemies had seemed to triumph. They had gone to the utmost limit, they had put Him to death He has been laid away dn the tomb; great stone has been rolled against the mouth of the sepulcher, and the seal of state placed upon it. It seemed that all was lost. The Sanhedrim rejoiced. The crowd dispersed The disciples had fled. Faith and hope, once so bright and buoyant, had faded from tn cir hearts. They trusted that it was He who should deliver Israel. The women who visited the sepulcher at that early morning hour did not go to hail Q living Chrust but to annoint a dead Christ. Nothing was left to them but love, but they loved Him with deathless affection. For two whole nights and one day the world seemed wrapped in impenetrable darkness and irretrievable ruin.
 But on the morning of the third day, just as the light was triumphin,y over darkness, behold there is a great earthquake. The Roman soldiers fall back like dead men, the stone stamped with the seal of imperial Rome upon it., rolled back at the touch of the an gel and Jesus Christ, the Son of God walked forth the conquerer of death. The power of this resurrection is the guarantee to you and to me, and to all the millions of earth in all ages of the victory over death. Not one grave shall be left with an occupant. The earth and the sea shall give up their dead. It is also the guarantee of