Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-04-24

would not have attracted bitter adversaries
nor devoted adherents. In it there would
have been nothing worth dying for and, GER
tainly no account of devotion to Christ.
Wherefore Paul in view of the denial of the
resurrection by the sceptics of Corinth asked
with warmth. "Why stand we in jeopardy
every hour. I protest by the rejoicing 1
have in Christ Jesus our Lord, | died daily.
If after the manner Of men | have
fought with beasts at Ephesus, what
adYantageth it me, if the dead rise not? Let
eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" Ct
Corinthians 15:30-32.) Thus the Apostle
teaches that without the resurrection des-
perate merriment and not devoted martyr
dom is the appropriate end of life And such
is the case.
Faithless men are never martyrs From
their standpoint martyrdom is senseIess folly,
close akin to suicide. They are never mar
tyrs and never the makers of Churches and
never the promoters of great spiritual move
ments among men.
1t has been truly said, "the blood of the
martyrs the seed of the Church,
The Church of Christ was not founded by
men of speculative minds befOgged by philo-
sophie doubts Such men have never found
ed anything great and good. Their tickle
mtellects do not long maintain their own
theories
Nor was the Church founded and built up
by the languid children of luxury, who be-
lieye little and are incapable of suffering for
even that little. We can not account for the
existence of the Christian Church unless we
refer it to the resurrection of Christ. If he
indeed has risen from the dead the death
detyIng cOnstancy and undismayed courage
of the Apostles, the joyous sufferings Of the
primitive Christians, the undismayed faith of
the martyrs, and the speedy spread of Chris
uanlty throughout the Roman Empire are
easy of explanation. For if Jesus rose from
the dead, his claim of being the Son of God
was established, and his gospel was shown
to be the power of God unto SALVATION"
since he was declared to be the Son of God
with power, according to the spirit of holi-
ness, by the resurrection from the dead"
(RomanS I:4)t Such being the case, it is
no wonder that his Apostles were utterly
fearless of the power of men, and that their
courageous and confident preaching wrought
conviction in the hearts of multiplied chou
SANDS VINO fell in penitence at their feet
crying, what shall we do to be saved?"
On the other hand, if Christ did not rise
the falth OF his APOSTLE messengers and the
results of their preaching are utterly mex
pIlcaDIe; or we are forced to attribute to
deluslon or deception, the most stupendous
and blessed spiritual revolution recorded in
the history of mankind.
In the first century decadent dying and
despairing world was sinking into hopeless
disorder and rayless gloom. But in the
midst of it's decay and dependency and
death, a new and noble life began to arise
city TO city and country to country it
spread until it had nearly pervaded the
known world. And that uneaEhly type Of
life sprang from professed belief in the res
direction Of Jesus whom it feryently adored,
challenging the cold hand of death to
quench the heavenly flame of devotion!
Through all manner of prosecutions and mar
tyrdOms it has persisted through the change
full centuries of light and darkness, peace and
war, until it has at-length reached the dis
tant age in which We live. Upon its contin-
uance in the earth the only abiding hope of
mankind depends.
Suppose its earliest advocates had not be-
lieyed that Jesus rose from the dead, or had
considered his resurrection an unimportant
and unessential matter. What sort Of a
world would we have today? If in the first
three centuries they had been as faithless as
the modernists' among us today, would
there be any Christian Churches to shelter
and support the rationaIists who feed upon
the Christianity which they fight?
If we abandon the faith of 1.-The glorious
company of the Apostles and ''the noble
army of the Martyrs" and in its room set
up the rationaistic speculations and specious
scepticism of the modernsts, will We have
any Churches tomorrow, or any Christianity?
The mOdernists are repeating much of the
irreverence and infdelity of CELSIUS which
Origin refuted. Can mankind draw spiritual
life from the teachings of CELSIUS, whether
uttered in the second century or in the
twentieth?
We might as well look for the fragrant
flowers and luscious fruits Of the tropics
amid the ice and darkness of an Arctic
winter.
Let US on this glad Easter morning turn
away from the deuded and doubling mod
ernists; salute one another with joyous eX-
cIamation
"The Lord is risen, indeed" Sing raptur-
ously His praises; and go '%rayeling home to
God in the way our fathers trod,"