The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-04-28
TT IS FINISHED."
THE STORY OF THE CROSS AND THE
RESURRECTION OF OUR BLESSED
REDEEEER.
The Divinity Of Our Saviour ..- Our
Duty to Eovc Him with our Whole
I9eart-..The Promise that we shall
See Jesus OH the last Day.
Sermon by the Rev. W. q. Hanckel, of the
Episcopal Church, Abbeville, Easter
Morning. 1885,

Entering the door of the Episcopal church
we pass by a great floral cross in the vesti
bule. The chancel, the baptlsmar fount, ano
other suitable places are dressed in the flow
ers of the season, while the wall is decorated
with the words. sit is Finished" Thefollow
ing is the sermon:
81 know that my Redeemer liveth, and that lie
shall stand ut the attrr day upon the earth: And
though after my skin worms shall destroy this body
yet in my flesh shall SEE God."-Job xix 1926.
Easter-Day is the Christians time of re
moved hope. On Good Friday we saw the
Son of God "wounded for our transgressions
and bruised for our inquitics,' and we heard
his last grOanS OF agony, suffered for us and
our salvation Yesterday his pale marred
dead body was laid to rest in the tomb Of lo
seph of Arimathea. 10 human sight the
tragedy was complete, and the hope OF those
who trusted that the day OF redemption had
come, went out in darkness. To-day, we may
sec the form Of sinful flesh, of ser sant and /,
sufferer, laid aside forever. Jesus the Saviour
rises, rises by his own AID His Fathers pow
er, rises triumphant oyer death, the conquer
er of the grave, the first fruits of them that
sleep IN Jesus. The angels Of God come down
to do him honor, they roll away the stone
and open the Sepulchre. the earth is tremu.
lOuS for JOY under the feet of Its risen King
all nature puts on It's fairest attire, and join.
in celebrating the Redecmers triumph. On
every side are re-echoed the words OF assured
hope and rapture II know that my Redccmer
liYcth, &c. &C."
Gus man suddenly cast down from the height
of prosperity, afflicted with all evils that can
embitter the lot Of man. But sustained ny
religious faith, resting with confidence on tine
love of God, and the hopes OF the hereafter
he looks through the long vista OF many sue
cesSive generations. and sees his Saviour
seated on u throne, when he would receive In
place Of his present misery, nnchanging b!cs
ent in the anticipated joys of the future, nay,
though his body should perish. yet he should
he raised from the dead, and see his God and
Saviour, as his Portion and Reward, and that
with his own eyes, i'll his own body, raised
from the dead.
Such was the hope OF the righteous, thou
sands of years before the light Of Chrstiani.
ty dawped upon the world. How it was re-
| vcaled to them, and how distinct was the rev.
elation we do not know. But the hope whicl,
supported them under every calamity, with
MS rests on solid foundations. In the time OF
Job, the Son of God had not then appeared in
the sins OF mankind. His atonelnent was
only shadowed forth under types and i'm
ages, and dimIy discerned through the
cloud of incense and the smoke of sacrifice.
Kedeemcr, when he came to take away sin by
the sacrifice Of himself, He in very deed
dwelt with men. He suffered, He died, le
descended into the grave, He rose again,-the
u
rose as the sure earnest Of our resurrection
and aScenucd into the heavens, where
"He ever liveth to make interceSsion for u.s.
These are facts that rest on sure evidence
Christianity-a power which has revolution
lied the world, and Is the force that now con-
trolls the actions and mOuluS the moral ma
lures of millions. They are facts which have
stood the keencst scrutiny Of friend aud foe,
and been received, except by the wilfully
blind, as sufficient to confirm the faith and
establish our hopes of life and immortality.
On the truth Of these facts rests the whole
fabric of the Christian faith. "The rcSurrGc-
ton Of Christ is the crucial test Of the worlds
redemption" While lie lived upon earth
He claimed to be The Son of God, and the
crowning proof of his Divinity, which he Of
fered to give was His own resurrection. Tn.
less lie had been "the everlasting Son OF tho
Father" the sleep which he slept In JDSeph's
garden would have known no waking, and
the name Of Christian would never have been
heard. I'VE cannot pillow our hopes ON
cloudland, and yet all Is cloudland If we can.
not discern in the past the Divine pcrsohall-
| ty of him, who "whcn He had overcome the
sharpness OF death, opened the Kingdom ol
the verge of the dark and terrible valley
which parts the land of the living from The
unlricd hereafter, If We cannot take this
Hand of human tenderness, yet godlike
prop or stay. Christ not risen, means that
therc is absolutely nothing-worse than moth
ing-in the Bible and in Christianity. I'VE
arc yet in our sins" Life is miserable, and
the future is hopeless "Christ risen, means
! that His religion is no human device, but Il
revelation from above" The Christian
Church has never shrunlS from the altcrna'
tive, but eXuts in its juhil liant assurance.
"Chrlst is risen from the dead" IL know
! that my Redecmcr Iiveth." "He was deiv.
cred up for our offences, and was raised fol
our justiiicatiOn."
That our blessed Lord lived, suffered, died
and was buried both friends and enemies .!
Christianity admit. The point is, did He rise
again? That the event is improbable in IT,
self, Till proved by adequate evidence, that il
| is widely different from what has ever occur
red in our own individual experience, is free
! ~ confessed. But imprObahility does not dis
prove the fact, unless 1t can be shown to be
beyond Divine power. or that 1t cannot be ver
flied by human testimony, or that there wa,
! no cause why Divine power should be eXerted
to raise the trucitied Christ TO life, But to dc
ny Divine power is to deny Gods existence
and nothing more is to be said. We have
seen that Christ's rising Is the. great pillar
that bears the weight OF the Christian system
and that it involves the eternal interests o
the whole human family. The death OF oul
blessed Lord showed his sutlerin? torsln. Ills
resurrection proves full satisfaction made by
those suferings. The meaning OF His death
! is summed up in these words: "(fOd sending
His own Son in the likeness OF sinful flesh
and forIsin, condemned sin in the tiesh." The
meaning Of Hisrcsurrecton runs thus: "Wht
shall lay anything to the charge OF Gods
elect? 1t is God that justifleth; Who is he
that condemneth? 1t Is Christ that died, yea
rather, that is risen again. who is even at the
right hand of God, who also makcth interces
sion for u.s." His resurrection is as 1t were
the voice of the Eternal procl lnl ming through
oil the universe, "This Is my beloved Son" in
whose person and work. in whose life ant
death "f am we'll pleased" He is crowned
with glory and honor, the one Mediator be
tween God and man.
Now it would be impossible to enter on al