and even granting that one could be found, the contradictions would wage about some detail of time or person or action accompanying the Resurrection. The great fact that Christ rose from the dead would not be touched.

TEST QUESTIONS

1. Answer this objection: The crucifixion does not prove the death of Christ.

2. Answer this objection: Christ did not die, because Pilate was surprised that He had died so soon.

3. Answer this objection: Corruption is the only certain sign of death; but Christ's body did not corrupt.

4. Answer this objection: A Hindu fakir was buried alive for some days; so was Christ.

5. Answer this objection: Christ did not die, because when He came from the tomb He was so weak that He forbade Mary Magdalen even to touch Him.

6. Answer this objection: Christ did not die on the cross, because He cried out in a loud voice, and water and blood came from His side. 7. Answer this objection: The guards said that when they were asleep, the disciples removed the Body of Christ.

8. Show how impossible it was for the disciples to remove the Body. 9. Answer this objection: The witnesses were in an abnormal state and actually thought that they saw a ghost.

10. Answer this objection: If Christ rose from the dead to prove His mission, He would have shown Himself to all men.

11. Answer this objection: Christ was not in the earth three days and three nights, and hence the sign of Jonas was not the Resurrection. 12. Show that there are no contradictions with regard to the time of going to the sepulcher and the names of the women.

LESSON XXIX

THE LIFE OF CHRIST

THE MAN WITH THE PALSY

Notes. Luke V, 17-26; Mark II, 1-12; Matthew IX, 1-12.

1. The Pharisees and the doctors of the law were there on an official inquiry into Our Lord's doctrine.

2. "Bed" means a litter like a hospital stretcher. It was made probably from sheepskin and let down through the roof by means of ropes. The four bearers were believers in Our Lord and certainly most charitable to their sick friend, since Our Lord, "seeing their faith,'' finally cured him.

3. Our Lord seizes this occasion to reveal Himself to the people and especially to the Pharisees as the Messias, the Son of God, and God Himself, who alone has the power to forgive sin.

4. In proof of His power to forgive sins, Our Lord works the visible miracle on the body of the sick man. It is as easy for Him to forgive sins as to work that visible miracle. Here before the eyes of the people and the Pharisees is the proof that He has power to heal the sick; and the only logical deduction that could be drawn by any right-minded observer, is that the man's sins are also forgiven.

5. The man took up his bed, i.e., he folded up the sheepskin.

6. The people were converted, but the Pharisees still persisted in their stubborn unbelief. Miracles worked in the light of day before multitudes, before their very eyes, had no other effect on them than to make them accuse Jesus of blasphemy.

7. This incident prepares us for the moment when Our Lord gave the power to His Apostles to forgive sins; and we should not imitate the Pharisees in their unbelief in Christ by feeling that our sins are not forgiven when we have done all that is required of us and received absolution.

DOCTRINE

THE TESTIMONY OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST

156. We shall consider this testimony under various heads: first, the miracles worked in favor of the Apostles and by them;

second, the testimony of the Church in the Apostolic Age; third, the testimony of the Church from the Apostolic Age to the Council of Nicaea; fourth, the testimony of the martyrs; and, fifth, the testimony from the marvelous spread of the Christian religion. It may be noted that these arguments, while sufficiently convincing, are not only not necessary after the arguments that have gone before, but are, in themselves and when taken alone, not as conclusive as, v.g., the Resurrection. Their cumulative effect is, however, very striking and well worthy of consideration.

Some miracles

157. The Miracles of the Apostles. were worked upon the Apostles. In Acts II, 1 to 41, we read: "And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: and suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak in divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak. . . . . The multitude came together and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed and wondered, saying: 'Behold, are not all these that speak, Galileans? And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born?' . . . . They therefore that received his word were baptized and there were added in that day about three thousand souls." See X, 46.

:

158. In Acts V, 18 to 23, we read how the Apostles were freed from a well-guarded prison. In Acts XII, 3 to 11, we read that Peter had been cast into prison, bound with chains, and put under the care of two guards, and yet an angel freed him. In Acts IX there is a dramatic description of the conversion of Paul, his blindness, and the restoration of his sight at the prayer of Ananias. In Acts XIV, 18 to 20, we read that Paul was stoned and left by the Jews for dead, and yet he arose and entered the city, and the next day set out with Barnabas for

Derbe. In Acts XVI, 25, 26, we read of Paul's miraculous escape from prison.

159. A great many miracles were worked through the instrumentality of the Apostles. As it would take too long to examine the details, only the references are given here. But it is strongly urged that each miracle be read, and natural and demoniacal causes excluded, thus leaving God as the principal cause of these wonders.

(a) Cures: Acts III, 2 to 8; IX, 32 to 34; XIV, 7 to 10; XXVIII, 5, 8; V, 14 to 16; XIX, 11 to 16.

(b) Punishments: Acts V, 1 to 10; XIII, 8 to 11.

(c) Expulsions of demons: Acts XVI, 16 to 18; XIX, 11 to 16.

(d) Raising of the dead to life: Acts IX, 36 to 41; XX, 9 to 12.

(e) The miracles were in confirmation of the preaching of the Apostles: Acts III, 2 to 8; IX, 32 to 34.

TEST QUESTIONS

1. Show that the arguments from the testimony of Christianity to the divinity of Christ are not necessarily conclusive although convincing. 2. Why are they presented at all?

3 What was the miracle of Pentecost?

4. Describe St. Peter's escape from prison.

5. Describe the conversion of St. Paul.

6. Describe one cure worked through the instrumentality of the Apostles.

7. Describe the resuscitation of a dead person brought about by an Apostle.

8. Show that the miracles worked through the instrumentality of the Apostles were in confirmation of the divinity of Christ.

LESSON XXX

THE LIFE OF CHRIST

JESUS CALLS MATTHEW

Notes. Matthew IX, 9-13; Luke V, 27-39; Mark II, 13-22.

1. Our Lord changed Matthew's original name of Levi to Matthew, which means "Gift of God."

2. The publicans were the tax-gatherers and were hated by the Jews, who considered them as traitors, avaricious tools of the Romans.

3. When Our Lord looked at Matthew and spoke only the words "Follow me," the man of money and pleasure, the branded sinner among his countrymen, arose at once, left all things and became an Apostle.

4. Matthew gave the banquet in farewell to his old life and in joy at his new. The publicans gathered in large numbers, attracted by Christ, and feeling honored that one of their number had been singled out for intimate companionship with this great Rabbi who proclaimed Himselt the Messias.

5. The Scribes and Pharisees were certainly not invited guests, for such an invitation would neither be tendered nor received by these holy ones of Israel. They came to spy, and talked with the disciples of Christ because they were afraid of the Master.

6. The Scribes and Pharisees were the sickest of men because of their pride in their own righteousness. The publicans humbled themselves before Christ the great Physician, who will be merciful to repentant sinners.

7. When the Messias, whom John had called the Bridegroom, has come, there is reason for joy; later when the Messias is rejected, suffers and dies and the Apostles are persecuted for being His disciples, there will be mourning. From this passage it seems clear that some of the Baptist's disciples did not follow after Our Lord, but rather were seeking a compromise between His doctrine and that of the Baptist and that of the Pharisees.

8. By the similitudes Jesus shows the impossibility of any compromise. New cloth shrinks when wet, and if sewed on an old garment will draw and tear the more; goat-skin bottles after long usage become rotten and frail, and if new wine, still fermenting, was placed in them, they burst under the pressure.

9. Our Lord tells the Pharisees that it will be hard for them to accept His doctrines because they are set and stubborn in their old ways like men who say that the old wine is good enough for them.