I will now proceed to examine the evidence which these Epistles afford to the truth of the Resurrection. The references which they contain to this great miracle of Christianity are extremely numerous, occurring in some form or other in almost every page. Shall I not say that their entire contents are written on the supposition of its reality? They are of the most direct as well as of the most incidental character. They make it clear that the belief in it lay at the foundation of the existence of the Church; that it was that which was supposed to communicate its moral power to Christianity, and that it was the source of the new spiritual life of every individual believer. In the following passage St. Paul distinctly pledges the truth of Christianity on the reality of the fact: “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain; yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not, ... and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” (1 Cor. xv. 14, etc.) Whatever opinion may be formed as to the genuineness of the other writings of the New Testament, they give one consistent testimony that the belief in the Resurrection was co‐extensive with the Church, and constituted the only ground of its existence. How could it be otherwise? The Church, as a community, was founded on the belief of the personal Messiahship of Christ; a dead Messiah would have been utterly worthless to it. Without a living Messiah to form its centre the whole superstructure must collapse. The following are some of the most important points which these letters prove as matters of fact respecting the Resurrection. First: That the belief in it was co‐extensive with the entire Church. It was not the belief of any single party in it, but of the whole community. This they establish on the most indisputable evidence. The existence of various parties in the Church in direct opposition to St. Paul proves beyond the possibility of contradiction that it was the one belief respecting which there was not the smallest diversity of opinion. If these parties had not existed, it might have been urged with some degree of plausibility that the testimony of these letters was inconclusive, because all the members of the Churches received servilely whatever St. Paul chose to dictate. But as we have already seen, a powerful party existed in both the Corinthian and Galatian Churches, who summarily rejected his claim to apostolic authority, maintaining that the twelve were the only genuine Apostles. Nevertheless, the Epistles make it clear that they must have believed in the Resurrection quite as strongly as St. Paul did himself.