Article March 26, 1932 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from G. C. Stewart, Joseph Fort Newton

[Dr. G. C. Stewart, as quoted by Rev. Joseph Fort Newton, in McCall's Magazine, Dayton, Ohio]

The first sermon ever preached by a Christian minister affirmed that "it was not possible that" Christ "should be holden" by death. St. Peter, standing up on the day of Pentecost, so declared. Overwhelming assurance of the fact of the resurrection came first; awareness of its inevitableness came next. So far from thinking of resurrection as a thing incredible and abnormal, they came to see that an impossible miracle would have happened if he had not risen. It was not a break with the laws of the universe; it was a revelation of another dimension of the universe.

There are two kinds of evidence in any court, direct and presumptive evidence. The apostles had both. ... Their direct, primary evidence was their own personal experience. It is undeniable that those men were defeated on Good Friday. It is also undeniable that within a few weeks these same men were aflame with faith, irresistible in assurance that Christ [Jesus] had risen. They swept through Palestine and Asia Minor defying mobs, singing in prison, rejoicing in martyrdom—for what? As witness of the resurrection of Christ [Jesus], ... and they became spiritual giants who moved the world! ...

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