John Strachey has no word of hope. H. G. Wells in his later days saw nothing but extinction for humanity. To the materialist there is no God, no heaven, no eternal life; death is the end of all things. Man is under the pressure of cruel material forces which will one day extinguish him. “ The life of man,” says Bertrand Russell, “ is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain. One by one our comrades vanish from our sight. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipo tent matter rolls on its relentless way.” . From such a dark hopeless creed we turn to the words of one for whom Christ had abolished death, and who thought not of extinction, but of a richer, fuller life—a life immortal and glorious. Listen to the words of Paul, there is no pessimism, no thought of extinction here. “ For though our outward man is wasting away, our inward man is being re newed day by day. For this our light and transitory burden of suffering is achieving for us, a preponderating, yes, a vastly preponderating and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at things seen, but things unseen; for things seen are tempo rary, but things unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18 Weymouth). For Paul death meant not annihil ation but immortality; not the end of all things but the beginning of eternal fellowship with Christ in a world in which he would enjoy per fect life and liberty. In contrast to the pessimistic outlook of those who reject the revelation of God in Christ Jesus we think of the cheery words of that great poet of the Christian faith and hope, Robert Browning. His faith enabled him to sing “ Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.” This sad, despairing, world needs the hope of the gospel if it is to rise out of its misery and despair. The loss of that hope means the loss of all that makes life worth while. This is the hour to be bold and to tell forth, with confidence and joy, the Christian gospel of God’s forgiveness ir: Christ and of the gift of life eter nal. Yes, we alone have the message which can bring life and light to this dark, sin-stricken world. When Ja cob Boehme the great mystic was dying his ears were attuned to the harmonies of heaven. He seemed to be listening to a rapturous strain which filled his soul. “ Open the window,” he cried with his last breath, and “ let in more of that music.” That is the word for us as the old world dies around us. “ Open the windows and let in more of that music”— the music of Easter hope.
Easter Hope B y A r th u r H ed ley Dunstable, England
T he manuscripts of radio sermons in Britain must be submitted to the Director of Religious Broadcasting before they are broadcast to the peo ple. The late director, Dr. Welch, in speaking at a conference on evange lism, stated that out of six thousand manuscripts he had read only one, so far as he could recall, which dealt with the hope of immortality. It would seem that both in Ameri ca and Britain we are becoming so immersed in this world, so occupied with social activities, that we are neglecting to give time and thought to the life beyond. To do so is fool ish and fatal. It was the hope of immortality which gave the early Christians hope, courage, confidence and joy amid the trials and tempta tions of this present life. It was the announcement that life both here and hereafter is one and continuous, with death a gateway to the next stage, that has given Christianity a power ful appeal among those living in heathen darkness. The gospel of Christ with its as sured hope of immortality is the only gospel which gives deliverance from fear, and lights up the dark valley of the shadow of death. In terror, a dying African said to Dr. Laws of Livingstonia, “White man, where am I going?” Tenderly taking his trembling hand the missionary breathed into his ear, the glorious message of the gospel, and trusting the Word of Christ, the dying native found peace and rest. How necessary it is at Eastertide, yea at all times, to emphasize the hope of immortality, which is the central message of the New Testa ment. If Christ is not raised from the dead then there is no forgiveness, Christ died in vain; “ ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17). By His glorious resurrection from the dead we are assured of the efficacy of His atoning sacrifice to justify us in God’s sight. He “was delivered for our of fences, and was raised again for our
justification” (Rom. 4:25).' His resur rection is the guarantee of our own. “ Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). Death met its master in Christ. He triumphed over death and overcame him who had the pow er of death (Heb. 2:14). To know Christ has vanquished death so that it was no longer of any account, banished all fear of death. Christ “ hath abolished death,” said Paul, “ and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10). The face of death lost all its terrors for those who had seen the power and glory of God, in the face of the risen Christ. When speaking of death the late Dr. F. B. Meyer said, “ Let us learn what death is. It is simply a translation . . . not a condition' but a passage. We pass through a doorway, we cross a bridge of smiles, we flash from the dark into the light. There is no in terval of unconsciousness, no paren thesis of suspended animation.” I be lieve it was with almost a shout of defiance and exultation that Paul said “ O death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory? . . . thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55-57). The Christian church alone. has the message of immortality, and nev er was there such a need to proclaim it. A social gospel is of no use to a world that is full of uncertainty, perplexity, despair; it is like offering a stone to a starving man. In read ing the writings of those humanists who believe only in this present world, there is the consciousness that they know they have so little to offer man in the place of the Chris tian faith and hope. John Strachey dreams of a day, many centuries hence, when science will double the span of man’s existence, and then the growth of social consciousness will take away the sting of death. For all the millions sorrowing, suf fering, dying in the present world
14
TH E KING'S BUSINESS
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker