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BOOK V.

THE CROWNING PROOF OF IMMORTALITY.

"And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked and others said, 'We will hear thee again of this matter.'". ACTS xvii. 32.

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CHAPTER I.

THE GREAT FAITH-ARTICLE OF THE FIRST CENTURY.

"If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain."-1 CORINTHIANS Xv. 16, 17.

ACCORDING to the best authorities, the Book of Acts was written about thirty years after the crucifixion. It is one of the most interesting and instructive of historical episodes, if we read it, as but few of us do, unblinded by the glamour of stereotyped preconceptions.

There was, of course, no New Testament in those days. During the first half of these thirty years there was not even a biography of Christ; and but one, that of Matthew, until near the close of that period: nor have we any proof that even Matthew's narrative was then known, or read, in the Christian congregations. All the apostolic letters of Paul, with the single exception of Thessalonians,* were written but a few years before the Acts were penned. The same is true of the other epistles; with the exception of that of James, which last was written about the middle of these thirty years.

Thus the faith of the disciples during this period was based

* Written about the year 53, or twenty years after Christ's death.

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THE EARLY CHRISTIAN FAITH

only on personal recollections, and on oral traditions of recen date. It was much strengthened, no doubt, by the appearance among them of those spiritual gifts* which Christ promised to such as trusted in him. But it was founded chiefly on one great phenomenon: the appearance of Christ, after death, to a number of witnesses, of whom many yet survived. To this, on every great occasion, the apostles were wont to appeal. † It was, indeed, the rock-foundation of their creed, failing which they admitted that the entire superstructure must fall. "If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain.”

The triumph of their faith, then, was, that immortality had been brought to light: not set forth as a probability by analogical argument, not recommended to belief by glosses and quiddities of the schools; but brought into the light of day, where the senses can perceive it, where the highest of all human evidences can assure its reality. And the test-proof of immortality among these early disciples of Christ was that the dead could return;§ it was that they themselves, to use the modern term, had seen the apparition of their Master.

Sceptics deny that they saw him. Strauss, assuming that an apparition would be a miracle, and holding miracles to be impossible, discredits the narrative. Yet he candidly states his conviction that the disciples, self-deceived through the excited state of their minds, firmly believed that Christ had appeared to them. He says:

* 1 Corinthians xii. 8-11.

† John xiv. 12.

‡ Acts ii. 32; iii. 15; iv. 33; x. 40, 41; xiii. 30, 31; and others.

It was not Christ alone whom (as we are told) they had seen: if we may trust the record "the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and appeared unto many.”—Matthew xxvii. 52, 53.

The decayed body does not come out of the grave; that is not the mode in which an apparition is formed: but that was the popular conception of the phenomenon in Matthew's day. How often are genuin phenomena incorrectly explained!

FOUNDED ON CHRIST'S APPARITION.

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"From the epistles of Paul and the Acts, it is certain that the apostles themselves had the persuasion that they had seen the Arisen. For the rest, the passage from the first Epistle to the Corinthians is not hereby weakened which, undoubtedly genuine, was written about the year 59 after Christ, therefore not thirty years after his resurrection. Upon this information we must admit that many members of the first community, still living at the composition of that epistle, particularly the apostles, were persuaded that they had witnessed the appearance of the risen Christ.” *

The text to which Strauss here refers is St. Paul's assertion that he has taught what he himself had received, namely, that, after Christ was risen "he was seen of Cephas [that is, Peter], then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain until this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of

James; then of all the apostles." t

-Seen, not by Peter and James alone, not by the apostles alone, but by five hundred brethren at once. And the belief of these men in the reality of what they saw was such that they endured bonds and scourgings and persecutions even unto death, under that sustaining faith. The record of all this, too, was made within thirty years of the time it happened; and is admitted, by a critic so learned and critical as Strauss, to be " doubtedly genuine.”

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For any natural event such testimony would be overwhelming. Strauss, having made up his mind that an apparition is an impossibility, disbelieves the story. I, having, like the disciples, witnessed an apparition, † know, as they did, that it is not impossible; and believe as they did, that Christ showed himself to them. I can thoroughly understand, though I might not have imitated, that constancy of faith which braved suf ferings and death.

* Leben Jesu, pp. 629, 652.
+ 1 Corinthians xv. 5, 6, 7.
See Book v. chapter 3.

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STUDY OF APPARITIONS IMPORTANT.

If the religious world is ever to attain the vantage ground that was occupied by the Christians of the apostolic age, it must convince itself that an apparition is a natural phenomenon, of occasional occurrence. Till then, a large fraction of the intelligent portion of society-its scientific leaders espe cially-will continue to deny, like Strauss-will stand out, like Thomas, saying: "I must see before I believe.”

Therefore the question "Is it important to study the subject of apparitions?" resolves itself into another: "Is it important to have assured proof of immortal life?"

I make, to the reader, no apology for the space I occupy in illustrating this and cognate phenomena. The world owes to itself an apology for its apathy on the subject.

CHAPTER II.

APPARITIONS SHOWING THEMSELVES SPONTANEOUSLY.

"To a mind not influenced by popular prejudice, it will be scarcely possible to believe that apparitions would have been vouched for in all countries, had they never been seen in any."-REV. GEORGE STRAHIAN, D.D.*

ONE of the most remarkable phases of scepticism is that which denies, what all ages have admitted, the occasional reappearance of what we call the dead. The fantastic accessories of current ghost stories-hideous spectres, naked skeletons clanking chains, odors of brimstone, lights burning blue-have mainly contributed to this modern Sadducism. False ideas and morbid feelings touching death have unsettled our judgment, even our perceptions. Those whom we loved in this world we have learned to fear, as soon as they passed to another. We think, with terror, of their reappearance; we faint, perhaps, if they suddenly present themselves: for terror blinds; it is the parent of superstition.

In the nursery, or by the home fireside, our children hear horrible ghost-stories, shuddering as they listen. This is spiritual poison, fatal alike to equanimity and to simple religious truth. If we speak to children of ghosts at all, we ought to tell them, just as we relate any natural event, that we shall all be ghosts by and by; that only part of our life is spent here; the rest of it in another world which we cannot see, but which is better and more beautiful than this. We ought to add that perhaps we shall be able to come back from that world and show ourselves to some of our old friends; and that, may be,

* In the Preface to his Prayers and Meditations of Dr. Samuel Johnson, London, 1785.

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