The Nevada County picayune., 1912-04-05

raise up. whereof we all are witnesses. - | Acts 2;32.
 St. Paul may not make direct re- ference to the virgin birth of our Lord, though he certainly knew of the prophecy that Virgin shall con l celye," (lsa. 7-14), but what does it matter? It is not greater miracle to be born than to rise triumphant over death. That Paul assumes the fact is evident from this lesson Literally he begins by saying, Now I make known the gospel which l preached unto you at Corinth, whereby you are saved and what you must always re- member, that Christ, who came full filling all that was promised in the 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 all, how he, himself had seen the Christ.
 Last of sll he was seen of me also. Though l am least of all the saints in that 1 persecuted the church, yet 1 am what I 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 12:34), hence, of course, they never even thought of the resurrection tMark 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 it 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 woman, were unconvinced and rather doubted those who had conversed with him on the road to Emmaus
 Again, when seen by the ten, Thom' as would not accept the report till he had seen bis hands and his feet.
 Arguments Based on Unbeief.
 All arguments to convince us ,ha, 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 12-14, 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 urreetion 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. If l fight with beasts at Ephesus what advan' tage does that have? Let us eat and drink. for tomorrow we die" Not so 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 fascinst' 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 Pilate nor to the Sanhedrim. Are you his friend? Have you seen