Article June 16, 1917 Issue

From Our Exchanges

with contributions from Joseph Fort Newton, Edward Shillito, W. H. Heap

[Rev. Joseph Fort Newton, D.Litt., in The Christian Commonwealth]

One can imagine the ribald jests of the Roman soldiers set to guard a grave, and their scorn of such an ignoble duty. The first night passed, and nothing happened. The second night, and no one came near the tomb. The next night—and then! History has its secrets. Many details remain hidden and dark. But the tomb was empty; Jesus' broken-hearted friends met him, talked with him, and knew him amid unveilings as lovely as they were real—in the morning light in the garden, in a closed room, by the lake at dawn. "That which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be ... So also is the resurrection." After this manner Jesus returned, and if we knew the higher laws of God no doubt it would be as natural as the growth of a flower. Why should it be deemed a thing incredible that out of the heart of the race having a genius for religion, as the Greeks had a genius for art, the crowning revelation should have come? Aspiration is not mocked forever! We live in a universe of lengthening vistas and lifting skies! The mercy of God is not mute, and He hath given an answer, overwhelming, to the most pathetic and moving of all cries!

How can we make this reality real to ourselves in this far off day, in this new and strange age in which we live? Truly, if man is immortal at all, he is immortal now. Immortality does not concern the future alone, or chiefly, but the life that now is, where it is needed to give amplitude and victorious confidence amid the vicissitudes of time. Of that fact the resurrection is a revelation, in that it brought not only immortality but life to light as a thing diviner and more wonderful than we ever yet have dreamed. Hints of this are given us in every great life.

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