"_If Christ be not risen!_" That is the most appalling "if" which can be
flung into the human mind. If it obtains lodging and entertainment, all
the fairest hopes of the soul wither away like tender buds which have been
nipped by sharp frost! See how they fade!
"_Your faith is vain._" It has no more strength and permanency than
Jonah's gourd. Nay, it has really never been a living thing! It has been a
pathetic delusion, beautiful, but empty as a bubble, and collapsing at
Joseph's tomb.
"_Ye are yet in your sins._" The hope of forgiveness and reconciliation is
stricken, and there is nothing left but "a certain fearful looking-for of
judgment." Nemesis has only been hiding behind a screen of decorated
falsehoods, and she will pursue us to the bitter end.
"_We are of all men the most miserable._" Joy would fall and die like a
fatally wounded lark. The song would cease from our souls. The holy place
would become a tomb.
"But now _is_ Christ risen from the dead!" Yes, let me finish on that
word. That gives me morning, and melody, and holy merriment that knows no
end.