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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
What can that type of Christianity do to lift men from sin and degradation? According to Paul—nothing—no more- than so^much wind. “ If Christ is not risen your faith is vain.” (A different word for vain - lit. “ Of no effect, powerless.” ) Without a risen Christ, what reason have’we to believe that His death had any more bearing on men’s sin than the death of hundreds of people martyred in a good cause? Dr. Patton, of course, thinks it doesn’t, and that is the result of throwing out the corner stone of Christian doctrine. The whole structure falls. We can not trust a dead Christ for eternal life. . . “ We are found false witnesses.” Dr. Patton, by his denial practically says to Paul and all the disciples who gave their lives for their witness to the resurrection, “ You are liars and all Christian doctrine is a fraud. If Christ did not rise, we are at a total loss to explain that sudden change that came over the dejected disciples and the zeal with which they went everywhere proclaiming the resurrection. The church never would have been born at the tomb. . “ Ye are yet in your sins.” He died for our offences; He was raised for our justification. How should we know that His work was accepted of the Father for us? “ It is Christ that died; yea rather, is risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who maketh intercession for us. ” “ The dead are perished.” Have we any ground for believing in im mortality? Not unless Christ literally arose from the dead. If He remains under the power of death, we have not the least assurance that He can deliver us from the power of death. “ We are of all men most miserable.” What does Dr. Patton’s resur rection message do for your heart? Does it give you the Easter heart? It leaves you nothing but a gloomy foreboding of death and a feeling that, after all, Christianity from start to finish, is but a guess. But Christ IS risen and no soul need be in any doubt concerning the truth of Christian faith. The resurrection is the solid rock on which alone salvation could ever be built.—-K. L. B. a» H o l d f a s t t o t h e b i b l e “ My advice to Sunday Schools, no matter what their denomination, is, hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties; write its precepts in your hearts; and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this book are we indebted for all the progress made in true civilization; and to this we must look as our guide in the future.’’—General U. S. Grant. How little General Grant knew when he uttered these words how much they would mean when quoted today. It is a message to the Church needed more' today than ever in its history. The department of the Church having the most hopeful prospect is the Sunday Bible School. There has been great development in the methods of the Sunday School, some for the better, some for the worse. What is the real test, the acid test, which must be applied in the first analysis? Has the Word of God been given the first place? Have teachers and scholars been brought to recognize it as the supernatural message of God, true from cover to cover? Has the faith of the teacher and scholar been fixed upon it as the power of God, made manifest in the i'mpor-
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