The Elbert County tribune., 1912-04-05
LESSON FOR APRIL I.
EASTER LESSON.

EASTER LESSON.
LESSON TEXT Cor 15:1-11.
GOLDEN TExT--''This Jesus did God
raise up. whereof we all are witnesses.''-
Acts 2:32.
st. Paul may not make direct re-
ference to tho virgin birth of our
Lord, though b, certainly knew of the
prophecy that a Virgin shall con-
ceive." lisa. 7.a41. but what does it
matter? 1t is not greater miracle to
be born than IN rise triumphant over
death. That faul assumes the fact
is evident from this lesson. Literally
he begins by saying. Now I make
known the gosoel which preached
unto you at Co-inth, whereby you are
saved and wiTst you must always re-
member, that Christ, who came full
Scripture, died for our sins and rose
again. Paul goes on to tell ex-
plicitly of many who had seen Jesus
after the resurrection and. most i'm
portant of al, how he, himself. had
seen the Christ.
Last Of all he was seen OF me
also. Though 1 am least OF all the
saints in that prosecuted the church,
yet am what am, and his grace was
not bestowed upon me in vain" Paul
was not such bad man" from the
accepted moral standards of his time.
yet he felt the truth of what Christ
said, viz, that the essence of sin is
that "they believe not on me-"
The fact of the resurrection of Je-
sus Christ is the best proven fact of
history. In the first place the dis
ciples themselves did not expect Je-
sus to die John t2:3D, hence. of
course, they never even thought of
the resurrection mark 9:10). In the
third place when on that Easter morn
Mary reported the empty tomb and of
having seen the Lord, the apostles
thought 1t idle talk" Luke 24:1D.
When the women reported having ac-
tually seen him, the men, and how
many men like to take instruction
from a woman. were unconvinced
and rather doubted those who had
conversed with him on the road to
Emmaus.
Again, when seen by the ten, Thorn
as would not accept the report till
he had seen his hands and his feet.
Arguments Based on UnbeIief.
All arguments to convince us that
Jesus did not rise are based upon un-
belief and the answer of countless
millions throughout nearly twenty
centuries has been the words of Paul
(verse 20) but Now is Christ risen
from the dead" To deny is to be lost
in the fog, our preaching vain, and
we have no ground of faith. See
verses 1914. To accept is to place a
firm foundation underneath our
whole Christian scheme, to set the
seal of authority and purity upon the
life OF him whom all men, Jew and
Gentle alike, say was good, and opens
a vista of hope for all who die in the
Lord.
Paul goes on to show that the res
direction of Jesus is the beginning of
a plan whereby all the human race
who are related to Christ shall like
wise be resurrected Even as through
the transgression of one man sin
came upon the whole human race, in
like manner by the perfect life of
obedience upon the part of one man
We may all be made alive.
Paul makes a strong contrast be-
tween the death of the believer and
that of the non-believer III | fight
with beasts at Ephesus what advan-
tage does that have? Let us eat and
J,-ipL fa, to,,, xx,a III NTo+ 30
however, with the Christian, hence he
exhorts the Christians to be awake
to righteousness and to sin not.
Only Friends Saw Him.
For the younger classes this story
OF the first Easter is a most fascinat-
ing one, dramatic, tender, inspiring
For the older pupils we may well dis
cuss, How Easter would be observ-
ed. Have we fully realized that we
are risen with Christi" Remember
he showed himself only to his friends,
not to plate nor to the Sanhedrim.
Are you his friend? Have you seen
the risen Lord? A description of
Holy Fire" of the Greek Christians
who gathered each with his taper in
the church at Jerusalem on Easter
Sabbath, and how each passes the fire
on to another or carries 1t sacredly
back to his home church, would be
appropriate in order to illustrate the
fact that each one of us must ap-
propriate Christ in his resurrection
power, and having appropriated his
life we are in duty bound to pass on
this knowledge to others. Paul show
ed his gratitude by '1aboring more
abundantly."
1t might be well for us to draw at
tention to the fact that the commun-
ION service Shows forth his death TIL
he come again." and baptism is sym