St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-25
An Easter Sermon.

And very early in the morning, the first
dav of the week, they came unto the
sepulcher at the rising of the sun; and they
said among themselves, Who shall roll us
away the stone from the door of the
sepulcher?
And when they locke they saw that the
stone was rolled away, for it was very
great And entering into the sepulcher.
they saw young man sitting on the right
side clothed in a long white garment; and
they were affrighted.
And he said unto them, Be not
affngbted: Go seek Jesus of Nazareth,
which was crucifed; he is risen; he is not
here; behold the place where they laid
him.
This is the story of Easter morning more
than eighteen hundred years ago as ST.
Mark wrote it down. / shall take it as
text for a short sermon this morning. In
ordinary Bibles il does not make a stick
fuP' of type, and there are but five OF six
words of more than two SyllableS. 1t Is
plain, uncolored statement of an occurrence,
witten as a reporter might write an ac-
count of an every day happening. with no
attempt at display or deXtrous use of
words. Three other men, Matthew, Luke
and John wrote accounts of about the same
length, on the same event, and they tally
as nearly with each other as will the
reports in the morning papers to-day of the
meetings that were held yesterday.
written by reporters whose business IL is TO
state facts. 1t is not an eXaggeration to
say that in 10, 600 churches to-day portion
of the whole of those four accounts will be
made the text on which pastors of all de-
nominations will base their sermons. Dis
courses will be elaborate, full of figures and
smile, Astounding in well-turned sentences,
and frightened by all the pictures that Gull
tured mind, inspired with the magnitude or
the theme and impressed with something of
the depth of its meaning, can paint Flow
ers will adorn the desk and send delicious
DdorS out over the pews. The organ will
give out notes more mellow than on other
Sabbath mornings, and if the day is clear,
the sunshine through the Stained-glaSS win
dows will seem hallowed, as it streams
across the aisles and falls Oh the heads of
The listeners as they are bowed in prayer.
The forty days Of fasting are ended. Good
Friday, with all that it may suggest of that
awful day, when the Son of God with His
hands and feet spiked to SOME heavy tim
bers on Calvary, died in agony, while the
sky grew dark and an earthquake fright
ened the Roman soldiers, was two
days ago. 1t is Easter morning.
The scent of spring, like the sweet spices
that Mary had, is in the air, and, like the
two angels that sat beside the tomb, man
kind is in shining garments. The chimes
in the steeples ring in harmony with the
notes of joy that echo through all Christen-
dom, and sound far over the roofs of the
city the glad refrain. The budding trees
seem to be more than ever full of promise,
and the notes of the very birds are freighted
Aol IL, L,
morning. Joy and hope and promise fill
the hearts of saint and sinner alike. And
all because some fraction of humanity be-
ieves that that "stickfuI" of very common
place reading matter is fact. The man
or the woman that reveled all last night in
wine and-sOng, and that this morning will
not wake with dull, heavy head until the
church bells ring-the intidei who has not
seen a pulpit in ten years. and who will
to-day curse the man that asks him to go to
the house of God-the hardened wording
who will on May 1 turn poor widow with
hungry babies out of doors unless she pays
her rental these and more will celebrate
TO-DAY the rising of the Christians Lord
with him or her whose soul shall come TO-
day, after forty days of pious prayer and
fasting, into the very presence of its risen
Redeemer. With gayer clothes, with an
extra rosebud or, perhaps, with louder
ribaldy in the song tonight, or more fire.
quent drafts of wine. they will take uncon-
scious part in the great birthday celebration
of ChristendOm.
In all the churches of st. Paul probably
no word or sentiment will be uttered that
has not been said before-few new meta
phors can be used, few new anthems sung,
few new organ peals sounded-and the aged
saint who tonight reads from his well-w
hrnl hot l.; 1
70 him fourscore years ago, with one more
bead told off in his rosary of casters, will
ask nothing more. Infinite depth can not
De made deeper. That which is boundless
cannot be enlarged. Metaphors. anthems
aud organ pealS are but the setting about
the hallowed day, like the gold about the
diamond. The old saint covered the whole
ground in his simple statement: Jesus of
Nazareth, which was crucifed he is risen;
he is not here, behold the place where they
laid him." A LAYMAN.