And first the New Testament—- that is the first great witness to the Resurrection as a fact with. out which not a book of its would have been written. Consider the calm, dispassionate treatment of the Lord's betrayal and agony in the Gospels—incredible if the cross was the last act of the drama. Tt shows the absolute assurance of those who looked back that these events only served to lead Him to His throne.
Consider next the audacity of the Acts of the Apostles, the conquering air of their leaders, und yet their willingness to be led 'n unforeseen directions—all due to! the conviction that the risen Lord! was commander-in-chief. Consider next the Epistles with their glorification of faith, hope and love, their certainty that all smaller; matters could be settled and all serious crises faced in their spirit, because the Lord was the life of His own.
Or consider the book of the Revelations, written like:—(1) Peter to persecuted people. It opens in the presence of One in the midst. of the Seven Golden Candlesticks with the keys of the Death and Hades in his hand.
In the matter of truths and maxims the New Testament will hold its own with any sacred books of the world, but its prime distinction lies elsewhere. It is the vehicle, the everlasting symbol of the risen Lord, and that is why is unique, challenging literature is incomparably more powerful today than it was 800 or 1,800 years jaga.
Marrer aNp Spirit.
Tue Spec, or Sunpay.
Our ideas on matter and spirit are very different from those of 0 centuries ago, and it is probable that we should describe the surrection differently. But there little room for feeling even intellectual superiority, for we are (2) Again the Lord's Day, Sunday, is an institution which rests upon Easter, is an_ effect which can find no other cause adequate but the Resurrection. Many people ignore Sunday, many resent it, and I don't wonder. It must be slow for them. They get so tired of the: selves—as a man wrote to his wife the other day in a publish, ed letter. "The idea of a settled humdrum existence is abhorrent. to me. I am sorry that you have to suffer accordingly, but I cannot help it. The best of luck and hap—piness that you can screw out of this rotten old world." So this kind {of a man left his wife to suffer because he was jarred by too much proximity.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.