The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-22
EASIERII 10Y

ESPECIAL REPORT FOR TIE EVENING TELEGR APH.l
"Tne Lord is risen lndeed.r-Ltke xiv s4 ~
What morning for the disciples of Jesus was
that of the first EasterI Death had come down |
like blight ON all their prospects. lie whom
they had followed and honored as the Messiah |
had fallen by the hand of treachery and VIC. |
lence, aided by Judiciat authority. The King of !
Israel had been accused and put TO death as a |
malefactor. The womer of his train had seen |
Him perish like criminal on the cross-they /
had followed Him with hopeless sorrow TO the |
sepu chre to embalm Him. The men of His |
company were scattered like frightened Sheep |
They were iguorant of the nature of their |
Lord's kingdom. They supposed it had been |
his aim TO set up again the Jewish monarchy |
with greatly increased magnihcence. So deep
was their darkness that, when Jesus said, |
destroy this temple, and in three DAYS i |
will raise IL up:' and again, "The Son of Man |
the dead = His meaning did not dawn upon
their souls. They perhaps set these things down
among the spiritual mysteries in which their
Master SO frequently INDUCED. Death was like |
a sudden putting out of the lights in a splendid
picture gallery. The rising glory OF the new
Messiah g kingdom, in which mis- friends were
to be honured and his enemies punished, was
snutIed out in a moment and the whole BODY
OF the disciples were stunned and left in the
dark to grope tn cir way they knew not how or
whittier Jesus lay dead and buried. The
RUmal seal was on His grave, and the guard
watched 1t. brief career of unheard-of bril-
liancy, of glorious promise, had apparently
change which Sunday morning brought9 The
disciples, male and female, were overwhelmed
with dlt appointment and despair, but they h I'd
not lost Jneir love for the Master. Early on
| Sunday morning. as the sun began to streak the
/
| the sepulchre, and so were Peter and John.
How could Mary forget the love which forgave
IN HIS S hadS So bassI Sae HEd m
MED? How could John forget the bosom on
| which he had so delighted to lean, now cold on
| the floor of the sepulchre? Here they were
| and what strange developments awaited them
| The sepulchre is open, the body is gone. the
| angels are here to utter the magic word,
"RisenW Ay, and most wonderful, Jesus him
| self appears.
| Easter has dawned on the world. From the
| East the natural sun is just coming up. The
| East is the land of the morning. Easter is the
| new morning of the world now dawning out OF
| the Lords open sepulchre. What palace of
| king, or temple of wealth or art is so glorious
| not only came heaven down to earth, but it en-
| tered the grave, and sealed, and paved, and
wreathed IL with celestial glory. And when
| that word, HE is risen," reached the disciples,
| one after another, in humble cottage, in market
place, in the temple, in Jerusalem, in Bethany,
| in Nazareth, in Capernaum, what a fog 1T
stirred, what a sense of triumph 1t awakened! |!
We call your attention TO the JOY of that
n morning. Our theme is, The Joy of Easter"
First of all, it is the joy of victory The ministry
of our Saviour on earth was of the nature of a
darkness, represented by the Scribes and Pha-
risees, with the civil authorities, arraying on
their side the wealth, the social position, the
learning, the fashion, the cunning, and the cor
rupton OF the world. or these forces the god of
this world was the master and leader. On the
friends He had gathered about Him. He had
come into the world professedly to set up new
kingdom, whose law was to be truth, whose
union not power but love. To support His
dyyne He 70 be-
with all the attributes OF Deity. Speak
Himself S n with strange noidness He SAID I'VE"
I'VE are one." He demanded that all men
ShGSd h9n0r vet Elm & even as tney nc seS r. ne
the great struggle with His foes, was clothed In
to 1I be Universal King He was the reputed son
of a carpen err He was destitute of the worlds
learning; He was poor, not having place where
tn Law a an
MONS among the lowly and ignorant; His alleged
divine power revealed itself, indeed. in splendid
FORMS but the splendor was moral. He went
out against his enemies, not with shield and
spear, not with horses and chariots, not with
riors rolled in blood, but with the weapons of
moral wisdom. His words were weighter
assailing error; they were sweeter than
honey and brighter than the sun
pore discourses were words for ali coming ages;
they shot down to the last times, the older the
and not as the Scribes. The people said, Surely
never man spake like this man. He over
whelmed his enemies, and left them speechless
under the loving blows Of His heavenly philo-
But instead of being convinced, they only
| CRASHED their teeth and watched the more
eagerly that they might entangle Him
in His talk. To His moral wisdom He added a
sublime purity OF life which deded the micro
scope of the most malicious criticism. He COM
bated them lovingly and tenderly, at once with
the holiness and the wisdom OF heaven. But
they cared for none of these things. Their
hearts, under His sermon on the mount, under
His parables, under His heavenly life, remained
cold as a stone. To His moral wisdom
and purity He added supernatural powers.
We can conceive of these powers
being employed differently from what they
We're. Elijah, in his contest with the priests OF
Baal, overwhelmed the enemies of the living
God with physical force. The fierce anger of
the prophet, like the fire that fell from heaven
and licked up the water from the trenches about
the altar and consumed wood and sacrifice, fell
on the priests of Baal and destroyed them with
great slaughter. Nay, even in New Testa-
ment times, one Elymas the sorcerer, who
withstood the right ways OF the
. | Lord, was struck blind by q single word of an
| Apostle, and Ananias and Sapphira were
srnitten dead by the power of the Gospel.
Even Jesus Himself. when set upon in Geth-
semane by lawless band ana arrested,
alluded to the use of miraculous power for the
J purpose of personal defense. While His enemies
ragged around Him like wild beasts, and
when Judas had just handed him
, over to his foes with tnat Kiss or Immortal
iniamy, Peter drew his sword TO defend Him.
But JesuS said to Peter, "ThtnkeSt thou not that
: l could call to my Father and he would send
me twelve legions OF angels p There spake the
Son of God. His ideas OF power go beyond
, armies ana earthly judgment seats. He sees
the array of supernal powers; Ine ranks OF
mighty beings that walt in mid air TO do the
, heavenly bidding; but His Kingdom is one OF
moral forces; truth, mercy, love, and purity,
shall war for him. The word TO Peter is put
up thy sword. We shall continue the contest
as we began it. have used ana VIII continue
! TO use miraculous power against my foes, but
It shall be in gentlest forms OF love and mercy"
II is quite likely that If Jesus, instead of para
! bles and gentle and compassionate entreaty,
| had launched q thunderbolt or two now and
/, then among the Pharisees and Sadducees,
| among the pompous scribes and the self
/, | conceited lawyers, and had made few OF
: them bite the ground IN sudden ana terrible
! | have been quite convincing. Multitudes would
) | have been converted. But such conversions,