seen of them forty days, and speaking of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God." The apostle Peter, in his
address to Cornelius and his friends, says: "Him God raised up the third
day, and showed him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses
chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after
he rose from the dead." Acts 10:40, 41. The apostle Paul, in his
enumeration of our Lord's appearances to his disciples after his
resurrection, 1 Cor. 5-8, mentions that on one occasion "he was seen of
above five hundred brethren at once; of whom," he says, "the greater
part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep."

It was not the greatness of the miracle, considered simply by itself,
but its relation to the gospel, that made our Lord's resurrection from
the dead the central fact of the apostles' testimony. It was, so to
speak, the hinge on which the whole work of redemption turned. Our
Lord's expiatory death for the sins of the world and his resurrection
from the dead were both alike parts of one indivisible whole. It was not
his claim to be the promised Messiah alone that was involved in the fact
of his resurrection. His completion, as the Messiah, of the work of
man's redemption was also dependent on that great event. "If Christ be
not risen," says the apostle, "then is our preaching vain, and your
faith is also vain;" and again, "If Christ be not raised, your faith is
vain; ye are yet in your sins." 1 Cor. 15:14, 17. We need not wonder
then that the apostles, in their testimony to the people, insisted so
earnestly on this one great fact in our Lord's history; for by it God
sealed him as the Prince of life.

8. The _character of Jesus_ of Nazareth, as drawn by the four
evangelists, is the highest possible proof of the authenticity and
credibility of the gospel narratives. Of this it has been justly said,
"The character is possible to be conceived, because it was actualized in
a living example." (Nature and the Supernatural, p. 324.) The
inapproachable excellence of Christ's character places it high above all
human praise. The reverent mind shrinks instinctively from the idea of
attempting to eulogize it, as from something profane and presumptuous.
We do not eulogize the sun shining in his strength, but we put a screen
over our eyes when we would look at him, lest we should be blinded by
the brightness of his beams. So must every man look at Jesus of Nazareth
with reverence and awe