inexplicable mysteries which are nevertheless indisputable facts.

But is the Incarnation such a fact? Was Jesus of Nazareth what he claimed to be? "I adjure thee, by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou art the Christ, the Son of God." So demanded the High Priest, and his challenge finds an echo in the experience of all thoughtful men. "Show us a sign," cried the rabbis; and the heart of the world responds, "Show us a sign, whether thou be the Christ or not."

His answer is forthcoming: "There shall no sign be given but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." So be it. We will take him at his word. He proposes to vanquish death and thus vindicate

his claim.

If he can do this it will place him in a category by himself alone, absolutely alone, as the one sole conqueror of death.

Once on a time there lived a man named Cæsar, who led a campaign of undisputed conquest until he met the King of Terrors and lay down to die. Once on a time there was a man named Alexander, who dreamed of universal empire and, having realized his dream, met the King of Terrors and lay down to die. Once on a time there was a man named Napoleon, at the raising of whose hand thrones and dynasties trembled and tottered to

their fall; but he, too, met the King of Terrors and, without a word, bowed low before him. Once on a time there was a man who led the armies of our Republic to a victory unparalleled in the history of the world; but he lies yonder in his mausolem on the bank of the Hudson, with no more power than the "Amiable Child" who sleeps beneath the shadow of his tomb.

"Where are the heroes of ages past?

All to the grave gone down! The warrior's arm
Lies nerveless on the pillow of its fame.
Hushed is his stormy voice and quenched

Is the blaze of his red eyeball. Yesterday
His name was mighty, in the earth.
To-day, 'tis what?"

Who, then, shall dispute with Death? Death has the right of way. Always? Nay, not in Joseph's garden. Here Christ meets Death and vanquishes him. In the darkness of the sepulcher he fights his battle singlehanded and comes forth crying, “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?"

The sign is fulfilled. Jonah is delivered from the belly of hell! Thus does Jesus of Nazareth vindicate his right to the name "Immanuel" which was written on his swaddling-bands. For by his resurrection he hath shown himself with power to be the veritable Son of God.

Its light on the Cross.-On its transverse beam. is inscribed "Jesus." The claim of redemption is

in that word. For it was written, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for it is he that shall save his people from their sins." No other of the children of men has ever put forth such a stupendous claim. He said of himself: "The Son of Man hath authority on earth to forgive sins." The reason why he could forgive sins was because he "bare our sins in his own body upon the tree." But how shall we know that his death has such saving value in the sight of God?

It all depends on the miracle of his resurrection. Show us the sign! For "if Christ hath not been raised then is our preaching vain; your faith also is vain; . . . ye are yet in your sins." He affirms that he is able to save unto the uttermost all that will believe in him. Let him prove it!

How did the Philistines learn that Samson was the unconquerable champion of Israel? They shut him up within the gates of Gaza; they fastened the bolts and compassed him about with guards; and lo, he "arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up . . . and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron." At the break of day the Philistines saw him yonder, leaning on their gates and bars and laughing at their discomfiture.

So do we learn the redeeming power of God's only-begotten Son. His soul could not be kept within the gates of Sheol. He came forth with the keys at his girdle. Thus the Yea and Amen of

his

power to save.

And now I

God was put upon know! "I know him whom I have believed; and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day!"

Its light on the Bible.-It is the one Book of all the sacred books of the world that has to do with everlasting life. In the Analects of Confucius you will find an elaborate code of ethics bearing on all the relations of the present life. When Confucius was asked why he had nothing to say of immortality he answered: "I cannot say whether there is anything beyond or not; but I know that we are living here and now; and it devolves upon us to make the most of ourselves and do the best for this present world as we pass through it." A sound philosophy, do you say ? Yes, if a man be no better than a sheep; but not for you and me.

The Bible is the Book of the Endless Life. It treats man not as an ephemera living for a handbreadth of time, but as a child of God, made in his likeness and after his image, and destined to live forever. It treats death not as a fatal accident but as merely an incident in life. Does death end all? Not in the philosophy of this Book. Death ends nothing; it begins all. Life here is merely the vestibule in which we robe ourselves for the life farther on.

And this Book of the Endless Life is also the Biography of the Lord of Life. He walks

through its pages like a king through the corridors of his palace, from its opening prophecy of the Seed of Woman to its last vision of the Sun of Righteousness arising with healing in his wings. And always he walks as the Lord of Life.

So when by his resurrection he vindicates his authority as the Incarnate Word of God he, at the same time, vindicates the authority of the written Word. The Bible and his resurrection go hand in hand. Find me a man who disbelieves this Book and I will show you one who lifts his eyebrows at the resurrection of Christ. In these days of biblical controversy, when all sorts of arguments are presented pro and contra, let this fact be deeply emphasized: that, when all is said and done, the ultimate and incontrovertible argument for the truth of Scripture is in the resurrection of Christ as the Incarnate Word and therefore the living complement of the Written Word of God.

Its light on the Church.-The Church is founded upon the proposition, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." If that can be demonstrated, the Church with its propaganda has a reason for life. Otherwise it has none. For if Christ be not risen our preaching is vain.

66

Heavy fall the shadows on the dim horizon:

Veiled the starry eyes from wistful eyes below; Cold and still thou liest in thine earthly prison; Whither, Lord and Master, whither shall we go?"