THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 



146 



conclusion, in isolation. It is of vital importance, therefore, that 

 we should make an effort, however inadequate, to set the fact 

 itself in its full context, before we come to close quarters with 

 the special department of the evidence on which our faith in the 

 fact rests that I have chosen for detailed examination. For 

 though the evidence of the New Testament seems, at first sight, 

 a simple enough matter of literary and historical criticism, the 

 manifold divergences between experts, to all outward appearance 

 equally qualified, and equally desirous of arriving at the truth, 

 is enough to warn us that the problem is not so simple as it 

 seems. D\i Bose's paradox is fully justified. " The Eesurrection 

 is the best attested and the most incredible fact in history." 

 It provides, therefore, a searching test of our readiness to recon- 

 sider our premises, our willingness to follow reason whithersoever 

 it may guide us irrespective of our prcejudicia. The fact is that 

 it is impossible to come to the consideration of the evidence for 

 the Eesurrection, or indeed of any other evidence, with a strictly 

 open mind. Our estimate of the trustworthiness of the Evan- 

 gelists, and of the sources of information at their disposal, is at 

 every point determined by the canons of probability," which 

 we lay down for ourselves when we start on our enquiry. The 

 phenomena with which the narratives deal are certainly unique. 

 If the accounts that they give are to be taken at their " face 

 value," they are evidence of the operation of a force, of which 

 we have as yet no other example in human experience. If they 

 stood by themselves, Dr. Eashdall would no doubt be justified 

 in his contention that ' ' any hypothesis would be more possible 

 than that they are veridical. But they do not stand by them- 

 selves, and my first contention is that no justice can be done to 

 the evidence of the Gospels unless the experience that they record 

 is seen in its full context of human history. 



We need not for our present purpose go back to trace the 

 Hand of God in the training of His people Israel, and the back- 

 ground of prophetic preparation which the Gospels everywhere 

 imply. It is enough to remember that Jesus claimed to be " the 

 Christ, the Son of the Blessed ": that in intention at least He 

 died to redeem mankind, and to bring in the Kingdom of God, 

 throwing the whole weight of the world 's salvation on His Father 

 in heaven, in obedience to Whose Will He went unfalteringly to 

 the Cross. This on the one side, and on the other this. Belief 

 in the Eesurrection, belief in the fact that this sublime confidence 

 was not misplaced, but that Jesus was indeed raised from the 

 dead, as St. Paul says, " by the glory of the Father," is the 

 keystone of the Christian Creed. That faith transformed the 

 timid, vacillating, broken-hearted band of disciples, making them 

 indomitable witnesses of His sovereignty, and sending them fortli 

 into all the world as indefatigable heralds of the Gospel of His 



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