RELIGIOUS WORLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 89, 16 April 1927, Page 22

RELIGIOUS WORLD.

; OUTLOOK. (Contributed.) THE EASTER FAITH. The Easter faith—the belief in the resurrection of Christ—is dealt with, .in the light of the most recent criticism, 'by the Rev. E. G. Sehvyn, M.A., editor ■of '"Theology,"' in an important book published recently, entitled "Essays. Catholic and Critical."' Mr. Selwvn ;points out that the apostles wto convinced that what they preac v ! as the 'resurrection was a fact • . history .for which uiiiinpeaehali!" testimony ■ existed, (.'hirst's resu. ccion, the 'Christian's experience of moral redemption, and his hope of~ immortality arc three facts so closely locked together that none of them can lie disowned with•out the repudiation of the others. Whatever philosophy we profess—whether we nail the resurrection mystery or miracle— we have to recognise that in such a :matter as this a point must lie reached sooner or later where the mind's progress is arrested in a reverent agnosticism. Tor believers generally, that point is reached when we stand by the empty tomb. But there are many thoughtful believers to-day who cannot go so far. They do not regard the evidence as certifying us of more than the fact that the Lord appeared to His disciples, and gave them a clear call to work in His behalf. It is desirable, however, that both ortliodox and modernist should realise how much this belief signifies. It signifies accepting as true a number of occurrences or experiences which the saints do not hesitate to describe as "miracles." It involves also accepting them as acts in which God has definitely intervened in human experience to reveal and to teach. These acts are interpreted, moreover, in a way which gives to the occurrences a profoundly spiritual meaning, and which renders irrelevant alike the liberal's question as to how the risen Lord was clothed, and the traditionalist's assertion that the earth was lighter by so many pounds when the Lord ascended into heaven. .Finally, they are of that transcendant and supraJiormal character which claims and receives the homage of a man's whole surrender and obedience; so that those who accept in practical faith this theory of veridical visions cannot but commit themselves to that Spirit who prompted these visions, and who built upon them Ihe Church of the Apostles.

The Empty Tomb. Mr. Selwyn states that the empty tomb is the great pledge that death 3ias indeed been conquered. The evidence for the empty tomb was regarded by the primitive church, and has been regarded ever since, as the principal guarantee for Christ's resurrection. It is no exaggeration to say that, so far as the documentary evidence is concerned, no fact recorded in the New Testament is better attested than this. It is reasonable that those who reject the entire gospels as historically valueless should reject this testimony too; lrnt to accept them generally as good sources of historical information, and yet refuse to follow them on this point argues an arbitrariness in dealing with evidence which is an affront to scientific method. The empty tomb presents the mind with one of those issues where the decision is made at a deeper level of than that which is concerned •imply with the weighing of historical evidence. If a man follows the evidence so fat as to envisage the empty tomb ;3>ut then deserts it for pure hypothesis, it is because he is drawn aside by other than historical considerations. What is involved in such a change in the body of Jesus as took place as His resurrection takes it out of the category of things to which the laws of natural science apply. We do not know what are the possibilities of matter when indwelt by the soul of the Son of God, though we can well believe that in such a case it is exempt from the sentence of corruption. What faith cairns is that, in embodying the manhood of God Incarnate, the whole course of physical evolution reached its highest destiny, and through the conquest cf death passed over into forms of energy as yet tmgtiessed. Into the mystery of that mode of being only the heart of the ■worshipper can penetrate; and its onlv language when it does so is that of St. Thomas, "My Lord and my God."