An Easter Disciple | Page 6

ever promised such a future." responds
Quintus; "but is this all?"
"No," answers the disciple; "on his cross our Christus spoke again
about another experience for men. By his side was Dysmas, the
crucified robber, grieving for his faults and asking comfort. When the
cross pain and thirst were over, our Lord replied, the outlaw should
walk with him among the bowers of the beautiful Paradise beyond this
world's horizon. It was enough. In this consolation the tortured Dysmas
passed on, with a smile of peace upon his face."
"Have you more wonders to tell?" presses Quintus, in his eagerness,
while the story of the cross begins to compel his judgment and call for
his heart's surrender.
Then, the consummation! In ecstatic words John tells of the one final

and overmastering proof, in the thought of the eleven disciples;
"Greatest of all, we have ourselves seen our Friend again. Five times
already has he showed himself. First, Mary of Magdala saw him under
the trees of the garden, and spoke with him; then the other women met
him and fell at his feet; next our fellow disciple Petros saw him; then
two of our band walked with him to outlying Emmaus, and knew him
as he broke bread at the journey's end; and then last evening, he came
to ten of us in the Passover room and spoke his peace on us.
"Perhaps you have all seen a spectral form which has no real
existence," remonstrates Quintus, while all the time he is yielding
himself to the compelling story.
"It cannot be," responds the convincing John; "there have been too
many witnesses for that. We have seen the very wound made by the
spear of Longinus; we have heard his familiar voice; we have received
his blessing. Our number is our evidence; it cannot be possible that all
of us have been deceived. It is surely he, O Roman soldier, unless the
senses of the women and of ten honest men are far astray. No other
teacher of the East has ever come back from the sepulcher. Look and
see for yourself. Yonder is Joseph's empty tomb. The Christus is
himself the evidence."
What can Quintus do, in the face of such proof as this? He returns to
Scopus in wildest tumult. Little does he say to Aulus, his chosen friend.
The company of Longinus or the centurion he does not seek. The time
has come--as it comes to all--when he must commune with himself, and
make the decision confronting every soul that has heard the
resurrection story.

IV
CICERO OR CHRIST?
"The name of Jesus can still remove distractions from the minds of
men."--Origen.
Shall men believe in a future life because of Christ's return from the
grave? Is his established resurrection at Jerusalem the climacteric proof
for immortality? The problem is inescapable. Every man is himself a
judge; before every man the accumulated evidence passes; for every
man it is doomsday when he stands at the point of decision.
In his sore perplexity Quintus says to himself that night, when he has

returned from his interview with the disciple John: "My soul is like a
traveler who halts at the point where two roads meet. Great issues
depend upon his choice. But while he hesitates may the immortals, who
watch over the destinies of men, guide his feet aright."
Clearly defined are the alternatives before the Roman soldier. On the
one hand are his ancestral beliefs, long established and deeply
cherished by the nation. Nor does any man quickly toss aside the faith
of his fathers. If belief is waning in the primitive mythologies, and if
the social life of the Empire is moved by unrest and despair, the
problem is to find a greater satisfaction. There have been spoken many
beautiful words by the Roman scholars which are sweet premonitions
of immortality. Does not Quintus remember that Cicero likens to
heaven a port prepared, and prays that he may sail thither with
full-spread sails? And if the gifted Cicero has just gone tragically out of
life, let it be hoped that he has reached the harbor.
But on the other hand are the challenging and captivating words of
Christ. Had he only spoken of the future life as an enthusiastic Teacher,
and then had passed to the perpetual slumber of the grave like other
philosophers of the time, he would be remembered long. But, when he
had spoken his words concerning immortality, he had added, "I myself
shall surely come back again." From the evidence which Quintus has
heard in Jerusalem he has now fulfilled his prediction. He has put to
scorn the fidelity of the Roman sentinels at the tomb of Joseph; he has
reversed the laws of nature; he has appeared again, in unique proof that