Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-12-05
In The Religious World
lREvEW SUNDAY s;hooL LEssoN)

mortal hope, whose words of sweet as.
surance are repeated daily over thous.
ands of biers, imparting the light OF
eternal sunrise to the dark day of grief.
AS Jesus shared our earthly life and
death, so we may share his resurrec-
ton life. Paul insists that the disciple
is raised together with Christ" and
that they share a common heavenly ex-
perience. Not only are we delivered
from humanitys oldest fear and com.
monest experience but we are ushered
into triumphant resurrection glory OF
life here and now. The everyday
spiritual experience of the Christian is
linked with the fact of the resurrection
of our Lord.
Facing the Facts.
AS bit of reporting, or historical
writing, the four evangelists did nrst
class work. They were mindful of the
facts, first of all. We see this clearly
In the resurrection story First, they
present the evidence that He really
died-the Jewish usage that the COLI
demned criminal must not remain on
the cross over high sabbath; the
spear-thrust of the soldier which
brought both water and blood gushing
from the Victims side is sure proof OF
death; the report of the veteran cen
turion; the tomb sealed with the seal
of Rome and guarded by her legion
aries; the tomb was new one, with
no other body in it, so no room for mis-
takes remained there.
Then, in all their naive naturalness,
the historians relate the appearance
of the Lord to the various disciples, the
first of whom had come to the tomb ex-
pecting to find dead body, and not a
risen Christ.
The verisimilitude of the report that
Jesus was three days buried, when He
really was only in the tomb from Fri
day night to Sunday morning, is evil
dence of the trustworthiness of the
narrative That is the eastern way of
writing to this day-to count part of
day or year as a whole. So it is on
the Assyrian tablets; SO It is in the
Christian Koreans account of the
length of time they spent in Jail. In
the light of modern scholarship, with
it's full knowledge Of Oriental usages,
any other form of expression on the
part of the New Testament writer's
would have been counted suspicious;
they were true to their time and to the
facts.
OF the ten appearances of the risen
Christ-eleven, counting His appear
ance to Saul on the Damascus road
the first two were to women.
The first sixe appearances were in or
near Jerusalem, in this order:
To Mary Magdalene, at the sepul-
chre;
To the women on the way from the
sepulchre;
To Simon Peter alone, near Jerusa-
lem;
To two disciples on the way to
Emaus, near Jerusalem;
To the apostles, except Thomas, at
Jerusalem;
To the apostles, with Thomas, a
week later, at Jerusalem.
The next three appearances. were in
Gal,lee, first to seven fishermen; then
to the eleven on mountain; then to
about five hundred brethren at once.
The final appearance was at the Ascen-
sion, on Mt. Olivet.
Assuming the historical validity Of
the Bible, and we find that the resur-
rection is established by many wit.
nesses, and that it is as completely but
tressed fact as any event in ancient
history.
TIL, re remains one final proof of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, which, in
the case of millions of persons, makes
| all the other evidence unnecessary
That is the fact of personal. present
relationship with the living Christ, to
whom long line of martyrs and saints
bear Testimony, saying with st. Paul
~ know whom I have believed" That
relationship is for multitudes more
Q