words "all the apostles" may refer to the parting interview at Jerusalem, when all were present. Then Paul says, "Last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time."

The Apostles and many others to whom our Lord thus showed himself had no doubt whatever that he had risen from the dead.

IV

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

EXPLAINED

THE resurrection of Christ is a fact of great significance. It gives to all men and especially to Christians the expectation of a life beyond the grave. Our Savior said to his disciples: "Because I live, ye shall live also." But the chief importance of this great miracle is that it set the seal of God upon the claim of Jesus to be the Son of God and the Savior of the World. It established the sufficiency and the success of his death upon the cross as our Redeemer. It was a conclusive confirmation of the teaching that "there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all" (I Tim. 2:5).

A DIVINE ATTESTATION

The Apostle Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, lays much stress on the evidential value of our Lord's resurrection. He says:

I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures: And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? . . . If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ; whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. . . Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.

Here the Corinthians are told that if Christ had not risen their confidence in him as their Redeemer is misplaced and the preaching of the Cross is the propagation of a delusion. So far as we can see, this position was logically taken. Moreover, with the Apostle we find the fact of Christ's resurrection well attested historically, and worthy of our faith and confidence.

A CREDIBLE MIRACLE

But, while no doubt can be reasonably entertained respecting our Lord's resurrection, the exact nature of this event has been the subject of speculation. Some have regarded it as nothing more than a ghost-like apparition, the product of high-strung expectations. Others who identify

the supernatural with the impossible and who yet receive the gospels as historical, are driven to the belief that Christ's appearances after his crucifixion were strong hallucinations. Those, however, to whom Christ is God's only begotten Son recognize the improbability-indeed the impossibility—that such a being should remain subject to the power of death. They find it easy to believe that he rose from the grave, that he spake to Mary Magdalene at the sepulchre; that he walked and talked with his two discouraged followers on the way to Emmaus; that he showed his hands and his feet and his side to the Apostles and ate the broiled fish and the honeycomb before them; that he opened to them the Scriptures how it behoved the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day; that he wrought the miracle by the lake of Galilee and enjoined Peter to care for his sheep and his lambs; that he addrest the five hundred brethren on the mountain; and that, after having been seen of his disciples during forty days, he led them out of Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives, commanded them to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, and then ascended to the skies to be seated at the right hand of God.

WITH WHAT BODY DID HE RISE?

These facts were confidently believed by the Apostolic Christians. They were sure that the very same Christ who died on the cross had come to life again and had presented himself to them embodied as before. Moreover, they were not at all troubled with skeptical misgivings by reason of the marked change which had taken place in the method of our Savior's life. For he was no longer subject to the conditions of ordinary humanity; he had no need of rest or sleep or food; he placed himself at will wherever he desired to be; he appeared and disappeared like an angel visitant; the locked doors of upper chambers did not obstruct his movements; and at last, as if lighter than air, he ascended from the hillside and entered the cloud. These circumstances caused no bewilderment; they were all of a piece with wonders which had already been observed in the career of our Lord.

Probably, however, as time went by, the great difference in the corporeal phenomena manifested by our Savior before and after his resurrection may have led some to ask whether it were indeed the very same body that suffered upon the cross which was afterward seen in Jerusalem and in Galilee. This question would naturally arise in