1. That the belief in the Resurrection of Jesus was universal in the Church when St. Paul wrote these Epistles.
2. That this belief was held by every section in the Church, by the strongest opponents no less than by the admiring friends of St. Paul.
3. That the Churches holding this belief were separated from each other by a wide geographical area, and consisted of a great diversity of character, thereby affording the greatest obstacle to the spreading of an absurd story.
4. That these Churches did not merely accept the Resurrection as a bare fact, but that they considered that their existence as communities was based on its truth.
5. That they viewed the fact of the Resurrection not only as the great bond of union, but as the source of the moral power of the Christianity which they professed, and fully believed that their acceptance of it had exercised a mighty influence in turning them from the low and debasing pursuits of their previous life.
6. That their belief in the Resurrection was closely bound up with all the pursuits of their daily life.
7. That these Epistles not only afford indisputable [pg 448] proof that this state of things existed in the Churches within less than twenty-eight years after the crucifixion, but they no less clearly show that the earliest Christian communities, such as the Churches of Antioch and Jerusalem, entertained similar beliefs.
8. That it is an unquestionable historical fact that the belief in the Resurrection was co-eval with the restored life of the Church which had been extinguished by the crucifixion.
9. That the three pillar Apostles of the Church of Jerusalem believed that they had seen Jesus after His Resurrection, and that the entire body entertained a similar opinion.
10. That as late as a.d. 57 or 58 more than 250 persons were still living who believed that they had seen Jesus after His Resurrection; and that originally more than five hundred persons entertained a similar persuasion.