World of Religion

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22391, 11 April 1936, Page 7 (Supplement)

World of Religion

fTHERE is an interesting chapter in " Essays in Construction," by tho Dean of St. Pauls, Dr. W. 11. Matthews, in which ho discusses " The Truth of the Resurrection." He admits frankly the difficulty of reconciling certain details in the Gospel narratives; but maintains that these are inadequate to destroy the evidenqo for the central fact. He rests the weight of proof for that Fact on two main lines of argument.

First, he argues that the origin of the Christian Church cannot be plausibly explained except on the hypothesis that the belief in the Resurroction did actually transform the scattered followers of Jesus into a body inspired with heroic confidence. He accepts the Gospel statement that no expectation of a resurrection existed among the Apostles and that they deserted Jesus in tbo hour of the Passion. Such a statement, he says, could never have been invented by a later Christian, nor would any disciple desert a dying Master if ho really believed that he would rise again. The facts were such that if there were no resurrection " we have no idea at all how the Christian Church began." The Resurrection Certain Fact

The Dean's conviction is further based upon " first-hand religious experience," which he maintains gives to tho Christian the assurance, not only that tho Resurrection is the mosjfc certain fact in history, but one far more certain than any merely historical fact can ever be, " for it is not only a past event but a present reality." Men who have practised fellowship with Christ in hours of deep spiritual reality will know what the Dean means. And they will appreciate his words: "It may be said that the evidence we have for the livthat the evidence we have for the living Christ is the kind of evidence on which wo rely for the existence of our friends. We know them through the effects which they produce; and we know their character through observing what kind of effects they produce." The Christian is made sure not merely by historical ovidence but by his own experience of the living Christ and by tho evidence ho has of Christ's continued activities from the spiritual world into which He has gone. On these, and of course other grounds, which provide cumulative proof, Dean Matthews accepts {be Gospel narratives and concludes —" I believe the tomb was empty." First Easter Day

Among the details of the resurrection mentioned in the Gospels and affording confirmation of the fact is the position of the grave-cloths as they were found by the first visiting disciples. This is discussed with striking illustrations in Latham's " The Risen Master " and by other writers. On the first Easter Day, Peter and John came together to the sepulchre, the latter, who was the younger man, arriving first. John did not enter but,looking in he "saw the linen cloths lying." Peter, coming up later, with characteristic ardour entered the chamber apparently to investigate, for we are told " he beholdeth the linen cloths lying and the napkin that was upon His head not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself."

John then followed and the narrative gives the impression that something about the position of the linen cloths convinced both the disciples that a resurrection had taken place. Apparently there was no evidence that the tomn had been disturbed and the presence of the cloths showed that the body had not been removed by human hands. The grave-cloths wore lying in situ —tho body-cloths where the body had lain and the head-cloth, retaining the shape into which it had been wound, where the head had rested. Latham's sug-

By PHILEMON

gestion is that the spiritualised body of Jesus had, as it were, passed out of the wrappings, leaving them in their original position, and that it was this amazing sight which convinced the two apostles. Faith of General Smuts > The recently published bjography of General Jan. C. Sxnuts, among other points of absorbing interest, throws many sidelights upon his religious conviction and experience. He came of n Bible-loving race, being descended from generations of Dutch and French Protestants, and there were among his forbears vigorous Calvinistic preachers. Perhaps something more than zeal for scholarship is revealed in the fact that in six days he mastered the elements of Greek which were necessary for matriculation—" declensions, conjugations, irregular verbs and all." How much more this astonishing fact suggests is seen when we read that during tho Boer War the General carried in his saddle-bag beside Kant's "Critique of Puro Passion," a much-used copy of the Greek New Testament. He was then a young man just past thirty but the passing years have not weakened his faith nor lowered his estimation of the Bible, for it is not long ago sinco he said —" The older I get tho more of a Hebraist I become. They know God, those old Jews. They understood the needs of the soul. There is no literature like the Psalms; then comes Isaiah. I put the Bible above Shakespeare, who has to me the deficiency of being without religion."

Christian Broadcasting Association The Chinese Christian Broadcasting Association, which is said to be the only association of its kind in the world, is vigorously at work. It has just installed a new powerful transmitter and its programmes can be heard not only throughout China itself, but also in Japan and tho Philippines, and tho authorities have received letters from Australia and New Zealand reporting good reception. The primary aim of the promoters is to carry the Gospel to the villages of China and as wireless sets becomo cheaper and more widely used, tho area reached will be more widely extended. A six months' course of special addresses by representatives of tho L.M.S. has just recently been concluded. Sunday Trading A Bill introduced into the British House of Commons with the purpose of regulating the opening of shops on Sundays, passed its second reading bj a very large majority. Mr. Loftus, the member .who introduced it, gave som« facts as to the need for legislative action. He said that in recent years there had been an enormous increase in tho opening of shops for business ou tho Sabbath —" I mean all kinds and conditions of shops, drapers, bootsellers. and all that kind of shop." In Islington, ho stated, eighty per cent of shops in the minor roads werp open, in Bethnal Green, Stepney and Poplar, seventy-five per cent, in Greenwich and Woolwich ninety per cent, in Bermondsey over seventy per cent. In Plymouth eight hundred shops are doing business on the Sunday, in Cardiff a thousand, in Blackburn eight hundred, in Middlesborough a thousand.

Personal Notes The retirement of Mr. Arthur Porritt from the editorship of the Christian World after thirty-five years' association with that paper, during eleven of which ho occupied the editorial chair, is an event of importance in the Brit ish religious press. He has been succeeded by Mr. E. H. Jeffs, a distinguished member of the staff. We notice that Mr. R. E. Utting, formerly manager of the Auckland Sunday School Union Book depot, and now in charge of the Methodist Book Depot at Brisbane, was introduced to the recent Methodist Conference there. The Board of Management Bpoke most highly of the excellent beginning he had made and the assured prospects for the future.