ll that fair thought of His having burst the bands of
death is a blunder, then there was nothing in His death that had the
least bearing upon men's sin, and it is no more to me than the deaths
of thousands in the past. But if He is risen from the dead, then the
Resurrection casts back a light upon the Cross, and we understand
that His death is the life of the world, and that 'by His stripes we
are healed.'

But, further, remember what He said about Himself when He was in the
world--how He claimed to be the Son of God; how He demanded absolute
obedience, implicit trust, supreme love, how He identified faith in
Himself with faith in God--and consider the Resurrection as bearing
on the reception or rejection of these tremendous claims. It seems to
me that we are brought sharp up to this alternative--Jesus Christ
rose from the dead, and was declared by the Resurrection to be the
Son of God with power; or Jesus Christ has _not_ risen from the
dead--and what then? Then He was either deceiver or deceived, and in
either case has no right to my reverence and my love. We may be
thankful that men are illogical, and that many who reject the
Resurrection retain reverence, genuine and deep, for Jesus Christ.
But whether they have any right to do so is another matter. I confess
for myself that, if I did not believe that Jesus Christ had risen
from the dead, I should find it very hard to accept, as an example of
conduct, or as religious teacher, a man who had made such great
claims as He did, and had asked from me what He asked. It seems to me
that He is either a great deal more, or a great deal less, than a
beautiful saintly soul. If He rose from the dead He is much more; if
He did not, I am afraid to say how much less He is.

And, finally, the bearing of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ upon
our own hopes of the future may be suggested. It teaches us that life
has nothing to do with organisation, but persists apart from the
body. It teaches us that a man may pass from death and be unaltered in
the substance of his being; and it teaches us that the earthly
house of our tabernacle may be fashioned like unto the glorious house
in which He dwells now at the right hand of God. There is no other
absolute proof of immortality than the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If we accept with all our hearts and minds Paul's Gospel in its
fundamental facts, we need not fear to die, because He has died, and
by dying has been the death of death. We n