232 REV. CANON GIRDLESTONE,, M.A., ON THE RESURRECTION 



sure we shall all go away greatly benefited and enlightened on 

 this most wonderful and mysterious and most glorious event, the 

 Resurrection of our Lord, on which our faith depends for the 

 present and for the future. 



There is only one point which he, or any speaker, has not alluded 

 to, that is, the Ascension. The Resurrection and the Ascension 

 go hand in hand. Our Lord went into heaven in the presence of 

 His disciples, probably on the Mount of Olives, and they saw Him 

 go up into heaven and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 

 That was the body which rose from the resurrection grave and 

 which is now living in the heavens, where we hope to join Him. 



The Chairman.— Professor Hull has anticipated me in proposing 

 thanks to Canon Girdlestone. 



The instances given of the doubts are very valuable. Such are 

 very evident tokens of authenticity, the doubts of the disciples are 

 recorded. These incidental proofs are given and are very valuable. 

 The fact that no one saw the Lord rise, the fact that the doubts of 

 very large numbers of people are recorded, and also the fact that 

 only Christians saw Him at all. These points seem to me valuable 

 and only to be obtained by a little search beneath the surface. "We 

 are all most grateful to the Canon, and now I will ask him to reply 

 to those questions which have been asked. 



Canon Girdlestone. — A question was asked about the old 

 authors referring to our Lord's crucifixion and resurrection. Of 

 course Tacitus refers to the subject in quite clear words and he 

 mentions Pontius Pilate in connection therewith. It is the 

 crucifixion which is referred to. I do not think the resurrection 

 could have been referred to except by a Christian. 



Then came the very obscure question, what became of the real 

 flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. In the first place we have a very 

 interesting testimony of St. Peter, making use of Psalm xvi, 

 " Christ saw no corruption." All Jews believed that corruption set 

 in after the third day. Of Lazarus it is said that on the fourth day 

 symptoms of corruption were beginning to show themselves. There- 

 fore we have to think not of a body lying dead, but of a human 

 frame in good working order so far as all its structure was 

 concerned, only dead through injury to the heart. 



We have to consider the case of the body and blood separately. 

 In the case of blood one asks, what is the use of blood % what is the 



