DEVOTIONAL COLUMN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 105, 3 April 1926, Page 3

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN.

EASTER THOUGHTS. PRAYER. Lord of Life and Love, wo bless Thee for all those who have shared Thy victory. liven in this world or death and decay they have had eternal life in Thee. And now in the eternities where our dim eyes cannot pierce they possess the fulness _of life everlasting and share the joys which are at Thy right hand. Grant us to enter into their secret and to be counted in their number, that we also may win the Kingdom and the Crown. Amen.

READING. Christ died for our sins according to tho Scriptures: . . • ho' was buried, ... lie roso again the third day according to tho Scriptures, . . . He was buried and Ho roso again the third day according to the Scriptures; and was seen of 1 eter, then of the twelve; after that he was seen of above fivo hundred at onco.— 1 Cor., 15, 3-6.

THE RISEN ONE. If the Christ who died hacf stopped at the Cross His work had been incomplete. If the Christ who was buried had stayed in the tomb Ho had only known defeat; But the way of the Cross never stops at the Cross. And the way of the tomb leads on To victorious grace in the heavenly place Where tlio risen Lord has gone. A. J. FLINT.

TESTIMONY OF HISTORY AND OF EXPERIENCE TO THE DIVINE CHRIST.

The historical evidence of the resurrection of Christ does not stand alone. It is confirmed by experiences, says Prof. J. G. Machen, D.D.: An historical conviction of the resurrection of Jesus is not the end of faith, but only the beginning; if faith stops there, it will probably never stand the- fire of criticism. AVe are told that Jesus rose from the dead: the message is supported by a singular weight of evidence. But it is not just a message remote from us, it concerns not merely the past. If Jesus rose from the dead, as Ho is declared to have done in tho Gospels, then He is still alive, then He may still he found. He is present with us to-day to help us if we will but turn to Him. Tho historical evidence for tho resurrection amounted only to probability; probability is the best history can do. But the probability was at least sufficient for a trial. AVo accepted the sister message enough to make trial of it. And making trial of it wo found that it is true. Christian experience cannot do without history, but it adds to history that directness, that immediateness, that intimacy, of conviction which delivers us from fear. “Now we believe, not because of the saying : For wo have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, tho Saviour of the AVo rid.”

EASTER JOY.

“Joy!” shout tho Seraphim, “Joy!” reply tho Cherubini, Circling with triumphant hymn The great white throne. “Dawn puts ouc the paling stars, Christ has broken dungeon bars, Pain no more his visage mars, Night has flown.” “Joy!” shout tho martyr-throng, “Sing aloud a glad new song! Love as death and hell is strong, Fierce as flame!” “Joyl” reply the captiyes freed, “This our God is God indeed! Self-exiled to toil and bleed For man’s shame.” Rise! 0 Saints, whoso blood has run Freely in the fight you won, Round your re-ascended Sun, Circling soar! Warrior like your ranks unclose Till they shape tho Mystic Roso, Whoso perfected splendour glows Evermore I C. FIELD. “JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION.” (By Rev. W. Russell Maltby). It is not altogether to bo regretted that the event which gave us Easter Day and tho Easter message has been and still is so liutly challenged. Those

who have never found any difficulty in the story of the Resurrection have probably found little meaning in it. Those who onco found it almost incredible are those who como to find' it most wonderful. For the fact of the Resurrection is a fact of such size that we have to rebuild our world to contain it, and the last word must be that “with God anything is possible”—if it is good enough. It is clear that not many days after the Crucifixion something revolutionary and transforming happened which re-made tho men who were called His disciples, re-furnished their minds, and armed them mentally and spiritually for tho evangelisation of the world. They have left their account of what happened. They say it was the return of Jesus after His death, and the Pentecost that followed, and the lover of the Gospels has his own intimate reasons for trusting what they say. The Jesus of history as Ho is pictured in the Gospels is a Person clean beyond the reach of invention : we see there the workings of a Master mind handling every situation with incomparable efficiency, with a strength that is never rough and a gentleness that is never weak. We confess at every stage that His way is so much better than our way. After tho Crucifixion we turn to see what these Evangelists will make of a situation still more difficult and delicate, and we see the same unfailing mind revealing the situation to us by tho very way it is handled. The final test is not really whether the Gospels can bo dated or their witness corroborated.. It is the test of significance. These accounts disclose to us grander and deeper meanings than those who wrote them suspected; if they harmonise in unintended ways with the uniqueness of Jesus, and give us a world more coherent, more intelligible and more wonderful than wo had thought—that is their great verification.

It has been made an objection to the accounts of the Resurrection that Jesus is reported to have appeared, not to His enemies win most needed, to bo convinced, but only to His friends who were ready to be convinced, but, of course, our way would have been to have confronted Caiaphas and Pilate with the Risen Jesus and confound them with the sight of His person. Those who think that Jesus should have done this do not seem to have asked themselves why, if it was to have been done that way at last, it should not have been done that way at lirst. If it can do anyone any good to be overwhelmed with proofs and driven pell-mell into “faith,” whv be so slow about it ? A little consideration would oonvince 113 that this would be the way to make maniacs, but not to make believers. If wo are to believe, we must have room to disbelieve. If we are to bo allowed freedom to love Him we must do allowed freedom to forget Him. So “faith is always an option.” It is as Ho told us. “Behold I stand at the door and knock.” Ho built the house and framed the door, and no doubt Ho could break it in and terrify the poor rebel within. But this is the way to destroy us, not to save us. So though the power of His Resurrection became the glory and inspiration of the Church, it was a power that never forced an unwilling door, or drove unbelief into a corner, or extorted submission by tho ultimatum of omnipotence. Mighty as He was, He camo with infinite delicacy and did no manner of wrong to the frailest of the minds that Ho entered. He would not be too sudden with Mary Magdalene; He gave warning to Peter; Ho took time and gave explanations to Cleopas. Indeed, He came to nono without some token to quicken hope, some messenger to prepare the mind for so solemn an encounter. He had begun a friendship with theso disciples which only needed one thing more to make it an immortal fellowship, independent of time or space, not needing tho help of eyes or ears to .turn it in fact into communion with God. And wo can natch Him giving that last help in His own perfect way —now coming, now going, standing among them quiet and tranquil, scattering their fears, and then vanishing again; hovering on the border of the seen and the unseen, in order that they might feel sure of both. So they learn, first that though they cannot find Him, He can always find them, next that He cannot be lar away at any time, and next that Ho is never away at all. And this is why after all these years wo can still say: “We have fellowship with God and with His Son Jesus Christ.”