^ There can be no doubt that the belief in a historical Christ and a historical resurrection is the only basis on which a living certainty of life beyond the grave can be placed.^
2. This belief was not an act of the intellect alone ; it was scarcely even a conscious act of the individual. For we must keep in mind, in considering this message to the disciples of Christ at Eome, the vast difference between their age and the age in which we live. There was a feeling produced among the early believers in Christ by the common atmosphere which every member of the society breathed. The individual rarely detached himself from the community of which he was a part, weighed the evidences for himself, and formed his own creed. There was such a community of belief amongst them that the creed was in reality common to all, the only difference, perhaps, being that some felt it with greater intensity than others, were more influenced by its power and warmth. But the belief was common. They had one mind, and one heart. The power of the Spirit of Christ and the belief that He rose from the dead possessed them.
IF The contrast between the religion of Jesus and that organized and enforced by Moses was not greater than the contrast between the people in St. Paul's time and the people of to-day. These Christians felt the power of the Spirit of Christ, and aa a consequence they believed in His resurrection. The whole position has been reversed, and the polemical reasoners of to-day first set about proving the fact of the resurrection in order that men may feel Christ's power. They build up their arguments,
^ John Stuai't Blackie, Life, ii. 321. ROMANS — 13
194 THE HEART AND THE MOUTH
and then say that men ought to be conscious of the influence of Christ.i
When I heard the learned astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before
me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide,
and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with
much applause in the lecture room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick. Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself. In the mystical moist night air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.^
iii. Belief is productive of Righteousness.
1. The conviction of the heart, which is inevitably confessed with the mouth, is no barren creed. It is a spiritual force within us making always for righteousness.
2. Two conditions of morality are secured to us by the Eesurrection of our Lord : (1) Grace to enable effort. (2) Hope to inspire effort.
(1) Grace to enable effort. — " Howbeit," writes the Apostle, in days, like our own, of religious controversy and confusion, " the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his ; and. Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness." Just because the Eesurrection demonstrates the Lordship of Christ, and authenticates His claim to be the Bread from Heaven, by which we may live immortally, so is it inseparably connected with His summons to live righteously.
(2) Hope to inspire effort. — The victory of Christ is seen to carry consequences of the utmost importance. He is bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh ; in the indivisible unity of the human race He becomes for us all the pledge of final triumph. In Him we are sharers of that conquering manhood which overcame the very principle of mortality. By Him we are made strong to overcome sin, and assured of immortal life. There is no longer any place for the dreary suspicion that for us, being
1 A. H. M. Sime. 2 "Walt Whitman.
ROMANS X. lo 195
what and where we are in the world, there is no power to resist evil, that in sad truth the quest of the higher life is not for us. St. Paul bids the weakest and worst of us build boldly on the foundation of Christ's victory : " If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God." There is no place now for ' that withering sickness of the spirit, aghast at the futility of all human effort, shadowed and menaced and mocked by the inevitable stroke of death. " The things which are not seen are eternal," and our true life is " hid with Christ in God." " 0 death, where is thy victory ? 0 death, where is thy sting ? The sting of death is sin ; and the power of sin is the law : but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, un- moveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not vain in the Lord."
^ The believing heart is ever essential to the living of a consistent and real life. There never was yet in the world an absolutely consistent infidel. Life would break down for the man who did not live practically on faith, however much theoretically he may cast it out of his life. You remember the verses which have been wrongly attributed to Charles Kingsley :