The patriot. [volume] (Indiana, Pa.) 1914-1955, 1916-04-22
SACRIFICE MUST
PRECEDE SOULS
EASTER TRIUMPH
n. c. ToLLMAN, D. D., IL. o.

~ human soul, acting in ana
~ through the events Of daily
N life, and a risen Christ reveal
ing Gods nature to US through our
personal communion with him! This
is the Easter triumph.
Modern Christian criticism may dis
cuss, as it is now doing, the historical
and Quasi-physiological problems as TO
whether the risen Christ had a ma
terial body spiritualized" or spirit
ual body materialized," whether his
actual flesh and blood came forth
from the grave, as the Gospel nara
tive most distinctly gives US to under
stand, or whether he bore that celes-
tiaI and incorruptible body which st.
Paul declares is the body of the res
direction. Yet we need have no fear
that the conclusion-if one be ever
reached in the future-will affect that
vital truth on which our Christian
faith has been grounded for nineteen
centuries.
The lesson Of the Resurrection is
purely personal and individual one.
We do we'll to ask ourselves sobarly
and seriously what that lesson is.
Like all divine truths, it is wondrous-
ly simple, yet deeply significant and
full of transcendent responsibility. 1t
means nothing less than such life
union with Christ as to effect in US
participation in his immortal and di-
vine character assuredly no easy
process, but the struggle and achieve
ment of a life in constant touch and
fellowship with him.
The lesson of Easter plainly tells US
that we must die to our selfish selves,
to our littleness, narrowness, pride
and hate, and rise to the eternal life
of service.
No Easter triumph can come to any
soul without first a Golgotha Of indi-
vidual sacrifice and self-renunciation
Heaven is no fit place or condition for
a man who knows not what service is.
The risen Christ reveals the iInLlor-
tality of love realized in the soul of
man, a conception briefly summarized
by our Lord in the seeming paradox,
He that saveth his life shall lose it,
and he that loseth his life, the same
shall save it,
The risen Christ reveals the immor-
tality of truth. The self-opinionated
whose prejudices and preconceptions
shut out honest inquiry cannot COM
mune with a God of truth. The rev.
elation of Christ was the revelation Of
truth, and intellectual integrity is the
liberty Of every son Of God: "Ye
shall know the truth and the truth
shall make you free.''
The risen Christ reveals the i'm
mortality of service. The divine ac-
tivity is continually self-giving. God
is forever showing the divineness of
service. This is the life of God and
1t is uniform, inflexible and eternal
law that we must enter into such a
life before we can approach the inf
mite ideal of humanity which reveals
God. The flowers and starry heavens
sing together because there is between
IAOAn IAO Chilly VI oAAOWAA4G OON y
beauty. But between selfish soul
and God there can be no communion.
The risen Christ reveals what was
central in the mind Of God from eter
Iity. This darling thought in divine
evolution was the perfect humanity
revealed in the Son of Man. We call
Christ our Lord, our King, our Mas
ter and our God, and justly so, but the
dearest title to him and the one often
est upon his lips is that Of the Son
of Man, because it shows what man
can be in him and through him. To
that humanity we link our hopes Of
immortality, and we are confident they
will not disappoint US.
The lesson of Easter is simply this,
that we live the immortal life here,
the life of love, sacrifice, truth, beauty
and hope as revealed in Christ; that
we enter into such individual fellow
ship with our Lord as to enable us to
realize in him the life of God, for he
has said "He that hath seen me
hath seen the Father; that we ap-
propriate his divine life expressed in
the joy of self-denial, though it leads
US to Calvary.