Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1915-04-16

WHICH reason we
ask, and will try
to answer, the
question, How do we know that Jesus
Christ arose from the dead?
Historical Monuments.
A~ntiQuarians say that the strong
est evidence of an event of early
times is a historical monument erect
ed to establish it. Take our Fourth
of July. What an ever-recurring
proof it is of the Declaration of hide
pendence put forth by our political IA
theirs as the Magma Charta of our ma
ton! We trace the history of this
day from decade to decade until We
reach the point when it first came to
be. What then originated it, or what
explanation shall be given for its OBJ
servance at that time? There must
be ONE cause adequate for such an
the continental congress.
Just 81 we have the first day of
the week which we keep as one of
rest and worship. All the people do
not keep this day, but many do, who
are called Christians They are found
in all nations and among all tongues.
Moreover they have kept this day for
nearly 1000 years, and yet there was
a time when it began to be. What
originated it, what explains it's coming
into being? There must be a cause
adequate for such an effect, and it is
found in the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead on that day.
This proof is all the stronger when
we recall that the first Christians we're
Jews, and that until that time they
had always kept the seventh day of
the week, and not the first. 1t must
have been a revolutionary event in.
deed to produce a change like this.
The Testimony of Eye-Witnesses.
But going further back, what ground
had our Christian fathers for believing
that Jesus Christ arose from the dead
on that day? To mention only a single
fact, they had the testimony of 514
eye-witnesses, mentioned by Paul in
l Corinthians 1888. Onel eye-wit-
ness might be mistaken, or two OF
three might be mistaken, but 514 hard
lyi And not when you remember that
500 of them saw him at once. And
furthermore the post-resurrection ap-
%pearances of Jesus Christ were many,
for he remained upon the earth for
six weeks. And not only were they
many, but very intimate. if we may SO
express it. He walked and talked
with his disciples, and he ate and
drank with them. And he afforded
them the evidence not only of the
senses of sight and sound, but of
touch, too. Thomas was directed to
thrust his hand into the wound in the
side of Jesus, and told to "be not faith
less, but believing" The man who
rejects such testimony is incapable
of accepting any similar testimony to
anything or anybody.
Personal Experience.
And yet the man who truly believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ, has evil
dence of a more intimate and satisfac-
tory kind than either of those named.
He has the witness in himself, for he
himself is risen from the dead, not
as yet physically, but in a spiritual
sense. He has risen from the death
of sin into the life of righteousness,
He knows this to be a fact, and it is
so great a marvel in his experience
that the physical resurrection to fol
low is altogether removed from the re-
gion of uncertainty or doubt.
But how did this resurrection take
place in his case? Simply by be
lieving the testimony of God concern
ing the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. This is a great mystery
but the moment a man believes what
God has said about his son who died
for our sins and rose again for ou1
| justification, that moment he is born
again, he is a new man, in a new
world, with a new hope in his heart
You do not need to offer him further
proof that Jesus Christ rose from the
dead, he carries with him all the proof
he requires in his own sou.
Once I was blind, but now I can see.
The light of the world is Jesus.
No power can effect this change in
a man but God; and if God effects il
when a mar believes, that is all the
testimony the mar needs that his Son
died and rose again. Why not try
it for yourself? 1t costs nothing but
the surrender of your will to God, but
it is worth more than everything else