by God to his right hand. This theory is not in itself offensive to faith.
It concedes that the belief of the disciples rested on actual disclosures
of himself to them by the glorified Lord. The difficulty with the theory
is that it relegates the empty tomb to the limbo of legend, though it is a
feature of the tradition which is found in all the gospels and clearly
implied in Paul (I. Cor. xv. 4; compare Rom. vi. 4); it also fails to show
how this glorified Christ came to be thought of by the disciples as
_risen_, rather than simply glorified in spirit. This criticism brings us
back to the necessity of recognizing a resurrection which was in some real
sense corporeal, difficult as that conception is for us. The gospels
assert this with great simplicity and delicate reserve. They represent
Jesus as returning to his disciples with a body which was superior to the
limitations which hedge our lives about. It may be well described by
Paul's words, "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body."
Yet the records indicate that when he willed Jesus could offer himself to
the perception of other senses than sight and hearing--"handle me and see"
is not an invitation that we expect from a spiritual presence. If,
however, we have to confess an unsolved mystery here, and still more in
the record of his eating in the presence of the disciples (Luke xxiv.
41-43), it is permitted us to own that our knowledge of the possible
conditions of the fully perfected life are not such as to warrant great
dogmatism in criticising the account. The empty tomb, the objective
presence of the risen Jesus, the renewed faith of his followers, and their
new power are established data for our thought. With these, many of the
details may be left in mystery, because we have not yet light sufficient
to reveal to us all that we should like to know.

221. The ascension of the risen Christ to his Father is the presupposition
of all the New Testament teaching. The Acts, the Epistles, and the
Apocalypse join in the representation that he is now at the right hand of
God. In fact it may be said that such a view is involved in the doctrine
of the resurrection, for the very idea of that victory was that death had
no more dominion over him. It is a fact, however, that none of our gospels
in their correct text (see Luke xxiv. 51, R.V. margin) tell of the
ascension. Luke clearly implies it, and John says that Jesus told Mary to
tell the disciples that he was a