Arizona republican., 1910-03-28
THE RESURRECTION
 FOUNDATION OF FAITH ThE MANY CONVINCING PROOFS
 OF IT. he Easter Sermon of Rev. Henry Martyr Campbell of the Pres
 byterian Church.

sure that the thought that the apostle
 is deSirnIs of bringing before our
 minds iS th, necessity uf our knowing
 Jesus. not knowing about Him That
 is not the primary thought of the text
 however. but the thought we are tu
 look at and consider today is that of
 the power of the resurrection of the
 Christ The idea might well be made
 plainrr by changing the reading "f the text to That | may know him; that is,
 the power of His resurrection We can
 not know Him without knowing the
 power of His resurrection
 Let us take as our theme Chris
 tianity and the Resurrection of the
 Lord Jesus Christ and speak of the
 following: "A belief in the doctrine of
 the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
 Christ is an essential belief of cyan
 gelical Christianity, Some evidences
 of the fact of the Tt surrection.' and
 some comforting and helpful thoughts
 that center in and flow from the fact
 of the resurrection
 In times past there has been a
 tendency to make too little of the inn
 purtance of the resurrection. We may
 today find people in the church who are willing to work for it and the gooh
 for which it stands. but are unable to
 give al reason. intelligently. for the
 faith that is in them. But We ought
 to know these things and be able to
 tell them Perhaps not the first. but
 among the first. in importance of all
 our beliefs l would place the belief in
 the resurrection of our Lord Take
 tt. ,b
 Lord Jesus rose from the dead. and there is little left behind The whole of the New Testament is built up on the fact that He rose. We can not own the gospel unless We confess the resurrection. The Jews do not believe in the resurrection of Christ, and they are consistent in their belief. but we can not be consistent and not believe in it as fact beyond a doubt Christ Himself made much of the fact that He was to rise from the dead, and referred to it again and again. I'll, teachers of the early Christian times made it an all-important element uf their teaching. Paul said that if Christ had not risen from the dead, their preaching was vain, faith was vain. and believers were vet m their sins and were of all men most miser- able. The importance of this doctrine is again manifested in the change that the resurrection made on the disciples Before they knew of it and while they thought their Master in the grave. they were H sad, discouraged set of men. but when they had seen Him and knew that lie was alive. they were happy and filled with unflinching First of all, midst Of all, and last of all, Il is essential to be lieve in the doctrine of the resurrec- ton of the Lord Jesus Christ, or else. in my humble opinion. we have not q gospel which we can claim as worth having.
 some of the evidences of the resur rection of Christ: Robert F.. Speer has recently said that there IS not single. historical fact that can be more certainly proven than the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. LN- man Abbott goes to the extent Of say ing that he believes in the resurrec- tion of Christ not because he reads II in the Bible. but because he can prove it outside of the Scriptures. Now, let us consider some of the proofs. My first one is They saw Him. He was seen not by one alone, but by differ ent ones at dfrfefent times, and in one ease by oyer 500 witnesses. The disciples could not have been mistaken in the Man. for they had lived with Him in the closest communion and knew Him with intimacy. The very existence of the Word of God and the church as it is today is to me a proof of the resurrection of the Christ Evangelical Christianity has always recognized the doctrine of the rrsur- rection There is not to be found m all the world today an institution that is doing the good and has done the good that the church has. Is il not absurd to believe that such d religion and such an institution have been founded on a lie? Why did not the enemies of Christ produce the body if he had not risen? It must have been some place If any one contends that His body was taken away by the dis ciples. then he has to face the other dilemma of explaining how the church can be founded on lie and how II was that the disciples, sad and dis men that they were before the resurrection, became bold and happy afterward. knowing that they were preaching lie.
 Now let us pass to some comfort ing thoughts concerning the belief m the resurrection. Some are talking ol the impossbiity of believing in mir- acIes because they set aside the laws and conditions of nature. Is your op- lection to miracles such that 1t Will hold? Then you must face the con seduences of denying that Christ arose. for that is the most wonderful Of all miracles If you say that He did rise from the dead. then you have opened the door wide enough for any miracle Another thought of comfort is that death is robbed of its sting and the grave of it's victory. Oh. that we might live by that thought! McLaren tells us that death is simply shadow and not d substance. and where there is shadow there must be sunlight above it. As certainly as the Lord Jesus Christ has risen from the grave so certain it is that your labor. dear worker for the Master, is not m Valu i'm the Lord and neither is your ialth vain Then we ought not 10 be dis-