ing with her Lord. Thomas voiced the secret sentiments of them all when he said: " Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." Now would men so set against deception be apt to set about deceiving others? And if so, how was their deceit accomplished? The Saviour's transfixed heart and the official death certificate given to Pilate by the centurion both attest that Jesus really died on Calvary. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus asked for and secured the body, embalmed it and laid it in a tomb hewn out of solid rock and closed by a huge boulder. To make assurance doubly sure, the Jews sealed up the rock and posted a guard of soldiers. Meantime, the Apostles were hiding for fear of the Jews. Did the Roman soldiers betray their lordly masters and league themselves with poor, despised fishermen? Absurd. Did sentinels trained in the iron discipline of Rome sleep on their watch, and if so, how could the sleeping soldiers know the Apostles stole the body? Absurder still. Or did the timid Apostles overcome the armed soldiery, roll back the stone, carefully fold the winding sheet and escape with the dead uninjured? Most absurd of all. No, if Christ arose not, the tomb still held His body — which, too, is false, for the Jews would eagerly have produced it to vindicate themselves and discredit Christianity. Christ, therefore, did arise. The Apostles' and martyrs' blood and the conversion of the world attest it, for men die not to uphold a lie nor is the world
Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/272
This page needs to be proofread.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/page272-1024px-SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu.jpg)