The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-04-17


morning prayer was road, with sermon and
communion service. The following ia an
abstract Of the sermon delivered by Rev.
William j. Harris, ID. d., rector
COL. iii:i.--If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things, which are above, where
Christ stitch at The right hand OF God.
"Rsen with Christ" phrase full of the
the most potent and the most blessed sig
nificance 1t first Of all implies that Christ
is risen. And is He not risen indeed I Do
we not all most devouily and most heartily
believe that He, who died on Calvary and
was laid in the grave, burst the bars Of
death, and rose triumphant over the
grave ? Does not this blessed truth come
home to Us on this Easter day 50 wildly
snd go powerfully, that it almost seems az
Immediately present fact, not one that per-
tains 10 the remote past And, indeed, al
though our Lords resurrection is fact OF
more than eighteen centuries ago it ia an
everything fact, n fact which can never
grow old, but one whose potency and Sig
nificance are renewed day by day in
the experience of men, one whose potency
and Significance are yet to be revealed in
the final consumaton of all things pertain
ing to this world. Yes, Christ is risen
the grand question for rs to answer is,
whether we are risen with him. There
are two senses in which we may be said to
be risen with Christ now. The fret has 10 do
with that hope of the final resurrection OF
body, and of the reunion of soul aud body.
which comes to us through the resurrection
of Christ. Because lie rose, we too shall
rise. His resurrection is both the pledge
and the ground of our resurrection. In
hope, then, in anticipation, we are already
risen with Him. SO sure and so near is
the final issue, that we may think of our
selves as even now ''rieen with Christ" TO
all the blessed realities Of heaven. But
there is another resurrection which actual
ly appertains to the immediate present for
which we need not wait even for moment.
1t is q resurrection frem the death of sin
unto the life Of righteousness. From this
death of sin God is waiting to quicken ue
together with Christ for Christs sake for
giving liz all our trespasses blottiDg out
whatsoever is against US, taking it olt OF
our way by mailing it to His cross. Beng
buried with Him in baptism, seeking
through the washing of regeneration to put
away from us those sins, for which He died
upon the cross, by virtue OF his resurrec
ton we may be made TO walk in newneas
of life.
Are we risen with Christ The text
! furnishes us q test by which 10 answer the
| question. Ii we be thus risen, we shall
seek those things which are above, where
! Chri.t stitch ON the right hand of God.
| We naturally seek those things that are
above us. The only trouble IS that we do
not look far enough above us: we seek
larger worldly possessions, higher social
position, higher places Of trust ard of
| honor but these belong to condition of
things bounded by a few fleeing years
| Beyond, above this world, are the realities
of heaven--lhai glorious world where God
is, where even now Christ our Savior sit
teth At the right hand of God, where there
are Joys and honors as much above those
of this world az the never-cnding ages of
eternity are longer than tho few score Gears
| of mans life on this earth. These ere the
| joys, these are the donors, which il be-
comes US to seek with all our might. Ur-
less we do thus seek them, we cannot
rightly claim to be risen with Christ in
{ either of the senses just indicated We
must set our affections on those things that
are above In heart, as well as in mind,
we must ascend into tue came place,
whittier our Savior Christ is zone
before, and where He now sitteth ut the
| right hand of God. We -slust look
| forward both with confident hope and with
longing expectation TO the JOY unspeakable
and full OF glory which awGi,s us in
| Heaven, But those things which are
above pertain not 10 heaven and 30 the
| future alone. Their radiance reaches to
earth. When our blessed Lord had over
come the sharpness of death, He opened
the kingdom of heaven TO all believers in a
double sense. He secured to US all the
blessings Of that kingdom perfected in glory
everlasting, and He put within our immed-
ate reach a foretaste Of those same bles-
sings in His kingdom on earth, in the
| church, which in some mysterious sense is
His body, His resurrection body, the full
ness of Him that filleth all in all. In con-
nection with His church, in the use of the
sacraments and other means Of grace,
which He has ordained in His earthly king.
dom, He promises to begin and to perpe-
tusie within US life that shall never end,
a lite characterized here by some measure
| of that rest, that honor, that excellence.
that JOY, which shall finally be the luheli-
lance of the saints in light.
While, then, with anthems and with
| flowers, We celebrate the mighty resurrec-
| ton of Him, who died on the cross and
| slumbered IN the grave, while with our
voices or in our hearts we sing, "Now is
/
risen indeed;" can we truly say that we are
risen with him? Have We good hope OF
| final perfection Of body and soul in Hes
ven? Are we walking in that newness of
life, which is really nothing more nor less
than the life everlasting of the soul begun
here on earth? Have we put on Christ ?
Have we put on His spirit? Have we
put on His body by becoming members
of His mystical body, the church ?
| God grant that this Easter of our Lord,
this new celebration of his rising from the
dead, may be the Easter OF many a soul
here present, the rising of many OF us from
| the death of sin unto such life of right
eousness as shall fit us for the final Easier,
for that great day when all that are in their
graves shall hear His voice and shall come
forth, and when His mystical body, the
church, pureed from all the imperfections
which now attaint her, shall be presented O
glorious church, without spot or wrinkle,
or any such thing.
EVENING SERVICE.
The evening service was particularly q
Sunday School service, consisting of even.
ing prayer, carols By the children, ques-
tons on the Catechism and short address
to the children, and three anthems by the
choir. The church was crowded to It's ut.
termost capacity, many Of the congregation
beng obliged to stand. The music by the
choir at the morning and evening service
was as follows
1880 MORNING sERvIoE.
Anthem, "Christ our Passion". Buck
a POND
| Anthem, "Chfist the Lord Is risen to-day.
] LLOYD
lin Communion Servlce)
| .GreatOreN
Glorla IN Excelsis. ............,.,....O Old Chant
EVENING SERVICE.