"He Is Risen"

"He is not here"--in the tomb. No crypt can hold Him! A floor of rock, a roof of rock, a wall of rock, a door of rock, the seal of the Sanhedrin, a regiment of Roman soldiers, cannot keep Christ in the sepulcher. Men may entomb Him in their creeds and traditions, but He lifts the door from its hinges and flings it flat in the dust. Men may pile upon Him their hatreds and animosities, and all manner of opposition and obstruction, but He overthrows the whole pile and tramples it beneath His conquering feet.

"He is not here"--and neither is the cause for which He died bound here in the tomb of death. He died to redeem a fallen race, and in spite of all the poser of darkness and evil the work of redemption goes on! The Christian religion cannot be put down. Not all the ignorance and superstition and persecution that were arrayed against Christianity in the "dark ages" were enough to bury Christianity, but it refuses to be buried. They may from time to time accomplish its partial entombment, but out of every entombment it breaks forth into new life and poser, and goes marching on, conquering and to conquer.

"He is not here, but is risen." Risen! Christ risen!--the most signal event of all history. It was an event that signaled the triumph of life over death, truth over falsehood, right over wrong, love over hate, light over darkness. Death and darkness, and all their forces--malice, hate, error, injustice, and wrong--stand as defeated and conquered foes. The forces of light and life--truth, righteousness, love, peace and goodwill--are the conquering forces of the world. There are no tombs in which they can be sealed up and held. There are no graveclothes stout enough to bind them and hold them down. Let them be crushed to the earth as often as men will, but they rise again and again; the eternal years of God are theirs.

"He is risen"--and with Him is risen a new race, "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, who show forth the praises of him who called them out of darkness into his marvelous light" and of whom it is said, "There are no "gates of Hell" that can confound them or prevail against them as they go forth in the name and power of the risen Christ to establish in the world His kingdom over which He shall reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.