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Show I ' (1 JWfiail, Easter X I) ft- -f f' I i (Written for the Intermountain Catholic.) I I He has risen! f What a volume of thought there is in i these -words. The mind cannot grasp I ; the full meaning. In a single sentence l of peculiar brevity the -whole range of . ; Christian humanity is covered. ? The world's history for two thousand ! i years is placed before us. '4 All that is inspiring and noble and" J beautiful in- human life belongs to y Christianity. I Christ did not live and die in vain. j . He left a legacy to humanity in his I works and example that will survive I until time shall have faded into eter- f city. As to the disputed question of His I Divinity, scholars and searchers after f truth have long since conceded that He was both God and man. Had He not j been Divine and established the Church j His mission, would certainly have fail- ed. But he made ample provision for j the carrying out of His great work by the institution, of the Apostolic Church. which has continued to travel down the J eges without falling into the path of I error, but unchanged and loyal to His teachings to our own day, and which will continue in the same certain and f direct course for all time. I Christianity is for all mankind. Christ I did not coma upon earth for the benefit I of any particular individual. He edti- I rated and developed the hearts of the i people as well as ' appealed to their J reason and understanding. He lived ! and died for all. But, as we have already stated, He must necessarily have established a Church that was destined to carry out the principles which he propounded. That Church is the Roman Catholic, the Universal Church, the Church that has the deposit of faith; the Church i to which all the art. literature, learn- I ing and culture of the world belongs. iThis, in general, is the language of no less an eminent authority than the late Mr. Gladstone. But apart from the claims of the Catholic Church, let us calmly and dispassionately dis-passionately consider the Resurrection, , which this Easter time commemorates I so beautifully in all lands where men I profess Christianity, regardless of our I little misunderstandings as to Creed; 4. Indifferent of the disappointments and 3 eorrows of our own lives.. !The Resurrection is the basis of . Christian faith. It was the most important 'event in ell the history of the world. Witnesses whose testimony could not be impeach- 4 ed came forward to affirm the great f truth that Jesus had risen from the $ tomb. The issue is not imaginative; it 1 is a cold, hard fact. I A harmony of the gospels reveals to I ns that on the very day of the Res- i urrection, our Lord appeared on five I seperate occasions: first to Mary Mag dalen, next to the holy women mentioned men-tioned in St. Mark, later to Simon Peter the Prince of the Apostles, towards to-wards suppertime to the two disciples on their way from Jerusalem to Em-'i Em-'i maus, and in the evening to all the I - Apostles (Thomas excepted) gathered 3: in the Upper Chamber. "; The after appearances of the risen 1 Saviour were many; they were more numerous than the five that have been 5 distinctly recorded On the octave of ! Easter, He appeared again to the Apostles in the Upper Chamber, the sceptical Thomas being now among them. After the Apostles had left Jerusalem Je-rusalem and had returned. The Apostles were uot men to ae-; ae-; cr-pt without question the strange story i that their dead Master had rivn from J the tomb, writes Rev. George V. Lea by, J in the Easter Donaboe's. on this par- ticular point. The- entire narrative of the Resurrection proves that the;, i-( flow to credit the tale that had been told them and did not finally accept it save on the testimony of their own senses. When Mary Magdalen and the I holy women reported to them that they Iliad beheld the Savious, the Apoatles were incredulous. Perhaps, like Rcnan, they attributed the vision to the irregular workings of a disordered imagination. When Si- mon Peter, their Chief, came later in ( the day and assured them that he had i seen the Risen Master, their faith took on new life, only to be enfeebled, hovv-, hovv-, tver by the mysterious legend of the apparition of the Lord to the two dits- ,X tiples on their way to Emmaus. V It remained for tho Lord to cmie in I'erson into the midst of this incredu- lous doubting band, to convince them s by the evidence of their vn senses that He was truly risen from the dead. , It was only when our Lord appeared ' v among them, and showed them His wounded haiids, feet and sides, that the vj faith of the Apos-nles was made secure. k All hail! He has risen, ft HHHHW If ! ! I :5 '" SfiiSiiii Sill lkHfeaFOP It Is light; 'let's go S Hf fAmfflk . VfeS;; A TC Full of spring and light; lf'V ' vl - . J Christ is risen! ' , m. . . t j THOMAS BLACKBURN. ,(DKAWN SPECIALLY FOR THE INTEHHOUNTAIN CATHOLIC.) |