their houses, staves, thread, needles,
clothing, drink, everything--so Jesus Christ, this Tree of Life, is
Himself the sum of all the promises, and, having Him, we have
everything that we need.

And, lastly, in Christ we have the divine certainties as to the
Future over which, apart from Him, lie cloud and darkness. As I said
about the revelation of the heart of God, so I say about the
revelation of a future life--a verbal revelation is not enough. We
have enough of arguments; what we want is facts. We have enough of
man's peradventures about a future life, enough of evidence more or
less valid to show that it is 'probable,' or 'not inconceivable,' or
'more likely than not,' and so on and so on. What we want is that
somebody shall cross the gulf and come back again, and so we get in
the Resurrection of Christ the one fact on which men may safely rest
their convictions of immortality, and I do not think that there is a
second anywhere. On it alone, as I believe, hinges the whole answer
to the question--'If a man die, shall he live again?' This generation
is brought, in my reading of it, right up to this
alternative--Christ's Resurrection,--or we die like the brutes that
perish. 'All the promises of God in Him are yea.'

II. And now a word as to the second portion of my text--viz. man's
certitudes, which answer to God's certainties.

The latter are _in_ Christ, the former are _through_ Christ. Now it
is clear that the only fitting attitude for professing Christians in
reference to these certainties of God is the attitude of unhesitating
affirmation and joyful assent. Certitude is the fitting response to
certainty.

There should be some kind of correspondence between the firmness with
which we grasp, the tenacity with which we hold, the assurance with
which we believe, these great truths, and the rock-like firmness and
immovableness of the evidence upon which they rest. It is a poor
compliment to God to come to His most veracious affirmations, sealed
with the broad seal of His Son's life and death, and to answer with a
hesitating 'Amen,' that falters and almost sticks in our throat.
Build rock upon rock. Be sure of the certain things. Grasp with a
firm hand the firm stay. Immovably cling to the immovable foundation;
and though you be but like the limpet on the rock hold fast by the
Rock, as the limpet does; for it is an insult to the certainty of the
revelation, when there is hesitation in the believer.

I need not