The Benson signal., 1917-04-07

calmly served and d\fed them while he
talked to their white faces
"Oh, impossible, Incredible! false,
never to be believed! a myth, lie,
dream, q delusion, frenzy or fantasy
of disappointed, overwrought and fa-
natical. brains" Yes, and If you can
think of any other terms of denial to
write against it, set it dOwnNF And
when you have said and done 1t all,
the plain statement of these men who
sat there will challenge you to your
face to hear them tell you that 1t
happened, that he was there, that they
were there, and he whom they had laid
in that sealed-up grave sat in their
midst in the same body that they had
known, and cooked for them and ate
and served them as he chatted the
while! God be praised for heavens
sweet simplicity, that it was not In
some awful, supernal shape, trailing
clouds of glory" that he came back
to them, but that it was in the shape
of the man whom they had known, had
lived with, walked with, talked, slept
and eaten with-and 10! before their
eyes he moved and breathed and
walked and ate and talked, the unmis-
taxable and now incredible, but still
actual being that he was before! Oh,
If you will let these things, these
truths, even this simple scene, get into
your head and your heart-what an
| 11i a n
you! "Why" Because, care not
who and what you have been before.
if you have never realized the mighty
meaning of this simple scene, you may
have known a dead Jesus, but you
have never known the risen Savior!
We have asked who were there? Let
uS take a final moment to ask what
else was there? There, in that hour,
all the mighty realities Of the two
worlds were gathered; this world and
the next, the world that the disciples
had known so long and the world Of
which they were catching faint but
dazzling, astounding glimpses as they
gazed on him; the world that NE had
been born in, lived in, worked in, died
in-and the world that he was living
in at the time that he ate and talked
before their eyes
The realities of this world were
there. Labor was there-they Of the
toil-worn hands, callOused by the wet
net cords, they Of the many a night
of fruitless toll, they know what the
WEAKNESS and uncertainty Of labor is
as few others know. Hunger was there,
the meal that his love prepared to
meet their famished bodies, dOubly
worn with abstinence and disappOint-
ment. Death was there, the end Of all
earth-or why the meal to keep the
body going, the labor for ones loved
ones, and why the amaZement at seeing
one over whom the omnipOtence Of
death had no power?
And the realities of the world be.
yond were there. Life was there
such life as never a soul had dreamed
of since Adam covered beneath his SEN
tence of mortality. The body was
there; and now we know why 1T is
called the Apostles Creed" that says:
"I believe in the resurrection of the
body!" What other faith, what other
verdict, what other creed could they
have that saw the nail marks in the
hands that served them? Love was
there-incarnate in him, who, though
already in the life beyond so loved
them that he could reward their work.
a-day toll and could prepare for them
the food that was affections tribute it.
self. And the Christ was there!
Language fails. Words can say no
more. But this-all this-is the true
Gospel of Easter day.