The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-04-01
THE PRINT OF THE NAILS"
Sermon By Rev. E. Grassland Sunday
Morning.

I
rejoicing never to lose sight of the tes
and the teaching of Thomas. To study
the doubling disciple is to reach justel
conception of faith, Belief may rest OF
either of two classes Of evidence. | may
believe because ! see. This is properly
called knowledge, which may be defined
as a clear and certain perception OF thai
which exists. Or | may believe because
/ can rely on the testimony of another
This is properly called faith, which may
be defined as the assent of the mind tc
that which is declared by another, with
out reference to and in distinction from
our personal knowledge
Thomas doubts. In effect he says te
| the disciples: EITHER you have agreed
to deceive me, or you all have been mis-
! led. | cannot so easily be imposed upon
! You say you saw the Lord ] will be
harder TO satisfy. II would not content
me to see in His hands the print of the
nails; | must put my finger into it;
must thrust my hand into the spear
wound in His side, else ] will not be-
| lieve"
| But, nv fellow men, Thomas was not
! the only disciple that doubted the resur-
rection OF our Lord and Master 1t is
recorded in St Marks gospel 1914:
"Afterward He appeared unto the eleven
as they sat ut meat and upbraided them
with their unbelief and hardness of
heart, because they believed not them
which had seen Him after He was risen"
And yet again it is recorded in st. Luke's
gospel 24:37 80: They were terrified
and affrighted, and supposed that they
had seen spirit. And He said unto
them, Behold my hands and my feet,
that it is | myself; handle me, and see"
These men had staked their all on
Christ and had lost. Every hope of their
souls they had invested in Him, the
promise of God to the fathers, the life
of their beloved nation, the very destiny
of their immortal spirits they had linked
to Him. they called their Master-and it
was all gone. 1t was not a loss of for
tune: for, like most ministers, they had
never had enough of that to grieye over.
1t was loss of faith in their religion,
which, to the mind of 81, Oriental, means
the loss of everything sacred and prec-
ious. So, for three days, these men went
into a Gethsemane of their own; a Geth
semane into which no angel came to-
strengthen them, and above which they
could see no Father to whom they could
pray that, If it were possible, the cup
might pass from them. If they suffered
less acutely than their Master, we should
also remember that they suffered with
out His vision and hope. II there were
no drops of bloody sweat on their faces,
there was deep, dark, unrelieved despair
in their hearts. We had hoped tina
this was He who should have redeemed
Israel; that was all they could say
about it. Even that hope which springs
eternal in the human breast was now q
past tense to them. They did not dare |
to cherish it any longer.
The first message Of the risen Christ |
was TO men who had lost their faith |
Tell my brethren" Matthew 2s;l0l |
was the imperative command of Jesus. /
These men were confused, perpexed, be |
The Christ saw it before il /
came to pass and in that memorable dis
course, tenderly and lovingly counseled. |
Let not your heart be troubled Ge
believe in God, believe also in Me- John
l4:Il. Brethren, before their doubt
came to pass, His heart went out to
them with a sympathy and an affection
which they could not understand. No.
body knows the meaning of q wrecked
faith better than Jesus Christ. the
soul the world has ever
known. My brethren. if you have your
ioubts-and are honest in them-there
s not a soul in heaven or on earth who
with you more deeply than
lie does.
To the disciples, He was dead. and
heir faith was dead with Him. Their
aith was gone. and His first thought,
Is He emerged from the tomb, was to re-
tore it.
The credentials Of the risen Christ.
But Thomas, one of the twelve, was
lot with them when Jesus came. The
'ther disciples therefore said unto him,
We have seen the Lord" You see their
aith was restored But Thomas said I
INTO them, Except ! shall see in His {
lands the print of the nails, and put my
niger into the print of the nails, and |
hrust my hand into His side | will not 1
elieve." To Thomas infallible proofs I
t the genuine Jesus were the marks of I
acriice which He bore; only the sscri {
cial Jesus could be the real Jesus He |
ad companied with Jesus long enough y
o know that his Master carried with l
lin His own credentials; they were the I
redentiais of sacrifcial service, and /
oubtless to Thomas the supreme dem I
nstration of the sacriticial Jesus was Q
he crucified Jesus, crucified on the cross. Il
whose hands and feet nails had been v
riven. The print of the nails is the n
My test of reality; it tests she reality l
/ God and the reality of God likeness p
here is no other proof of genuineness
rceptable to a thinking man; the evil L
entail value OF any cause is shown by b
nc revelation of the print of the nails. f
aul exclaimed: Let no man trouble 4
lie, for | bear in my body the marks of o
ne Lord Jesus" ID
The print of the nails is the sign and Z
al of the glorious contamination of d
is ministry. u
If God is in His world, as modern sci "
ice contends, there we will expect to d.
nd in nature the print of the nails Il
cd does not disappoint US here; in field o.
nd forest, or rock ribbed mountains and e.
fertile filled valleys, everywhere in ma II
ire God has written the law of sacri "a
e. Nothing in the realm of nature is q
ade for adornment alone. sun and "
airs are for light, burning themselves b
, and out in order that man may be u
'nefitted The rich soil of the field and u
airie is impoverished in order that q
an may be fed; the trees of the forest IN
e sacrificed in order that fires may be
ndled and man be made comfortable ns
the wintry night when biting. blast -
g storms beat without; trees that seem u
have been grown for beauty alone er
e silent sufferers for the benefit of "