The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1912-04-05

St. Paul may not make direct re-
ference to the virgin birth of our
Lord, though he certainly knew of the
prophecy that a Virgin shall con
ceive," Elsa. 7-1N, but what does 1t
matter? 1t 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 | make
known the gospel which | 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.
pllcitly 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 all he was seen Of me
also Though 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 dad 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
clples themselves did not expect Je.
sus to die John 12IS4), hence, of
course they never even thought OF
the resurrection Mark $40, 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 PAID.
When the women reported having ac-
tually seen him, the men, and how
many men like to take instruction
from woman, were unconvlnced
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 Unbellef.
All arguments to convince us that
Jesus did not rise are based upon I'M
belief and the answer of countless
millions throughout nearly twenty
centuries has been the words Of Pau
(verse 2O) 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 ls 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 strong contrast be-
tween the death of the believer and
that of the non-believer IF fight
with beasts at Ephesls 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 most fasclnat-
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 ChrlstY 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 it sacredly
back to his home church, would be
appropriate in order to illustrate the
fact that each one Of us must APP
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 'labOring more
abundantly."
1t might be well for US to draw at
tention to the fact that the commun-
ion service shows forth his death till
he come again" and baptism is SYM
boIlc OF his death and resurrection
(Rom go wherein we are to walk
in newness Of life, and that at his
coming again all enemies shall be
subject to the Christ That these are
great truths we all know, yet even
the least may have part in telling
the glorious Easter story and that we
need not dwell at the cross but pass
an aod babold an ar,nfx, tomb and