Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-04-07
THE RISEN LORD.

The Afternoon FrAl9C SeIvACe-Ohu-
sually Large Congregations.
Easter service at the Center church yes
terday morning was celebrated In the simple
CONGREGATIONAL manner. The pulpit had
been decorated tastefully with potted plants
and flowers. DR.. Smith preached sermon
appropriate to the day, which was listened
to with great interest by the unusually large
congregation present. His text was taken
from St. Luke Gath. 9th and 9th verses.
"And as they were affrighted and bowed
down, their faces to the earth, they said unto
them, Why seek ye the living smong the
dsadl He Is not here; but Is risen; remem-
Der how he spake unto you when he was yet
in Galilee."
So the first proof of the resurrection was
given In the angels word Remember" The
women who had brought spices to the tomb
were perplexed and affrighted. The words
which the angels called to their remembrance
were those words which the disciples had not
ct FIRST understood, In which nearly Q year
before Jesus had announced that he was the
Messiah who must suffer and be killed and
rise again. That memory Of the Christ to
to prepare the disciples for the evil
of what the Christ had been they could not
disbelieve the evidence that he was risen. /
do not believe that we In our churches to-
day can keep our faith in the risen Lord In
any way so sure as through the memory OF
what his life before his death had been In Its
personal uniqueness to divine transcendence.
Remembering how Jesus in his earthly life
was the one solitary exception to all our ex-
perience of men, we may believe that In his
death likewise he could not be held under
the law of our mortality. I doubt whether
any historical testimony would of itself
| be sufficient to keep faith in the
resurrection unquenohed In the be.
lief of the word apart from the
memory Of the unique person Of Jesus and
the peculiar divineness of his life before his
death. Yet the Christian generation have
received the historical witness to the resur-
yection of this one son of man, and though
each age the testimony to the fact of it re.
cedes further into the distance, the Christian
world still cherishes with a faith not to
be reasoned away nor to be quenched
in any darkness, Its hope and trust
In the risen Lord. What is 1t
that justifes the Christian world on this
Easter morning, proolaiming again this great
exception to the law of death, and rejoicing
with more than the poets faith in it's great
gospel and true creed, that the Lord Is risen
indeedl One answer, one reason for our
deathless faith our text contains. The angel
said 'Remsmber," and they remembered his
words. Christ himself in the memory of
those who had known him was enough to
make 1t possible for them to believe he ia
risen.
Christ himself in the worlds memory Of
what he has said and done, is enough to
prove him to be one exception Of God In our
whole history Of mortality. Yet Jesus reve'
lstions in the gospel Of the resurrection is set
40 In some great silence of eternity. And
his disciples listened. wondered, worshipped,
but asked hardly human question of their
risen Lord. Turn to the accounts of Jesus
esurrection-lifs-and read how little.
IL it disappointing! Is is not
strangei Christ the risen man,
said to have been for forty days known
among his diciples. Yet from all his super
nal experience only a few words, only a
| further and fuller continuation of the heaven
ly teachings of his litel 1t Is passing strange,
were Christ not the Christ, had he not risen,
were this period of forty days of his resur.
rection but tradition and myth, We night
expect to find it filled with wonders and
crowded with revelations. Had those Cali
leeans invented 1t the marks of their fsbrica-
ton would have appeared In the
| superabundant commences OF Its dis
| closures. The Jews of those times were not
over reticient concerning heavenly things
/ Aho AsoSoAc SOu'N ePo"n ~ OSN N"AAy 49,
Payments. The gospels were written In the
common Hebrew atmosphere, and among
the traditions of the Jews, were they legen'
dairy, were the risen Christ q vision of dis
appointed sorrow, then this position Of the
gospel narrative should have been not the
least but the most miraculous portion Off
crowded with marvels and overlooking Will
speech, but II is one of the most divinely
| silent portions OF the gospel. The disciples
themselves seem overawed and their thoughtl
- A.. ,A,-.,--- M 80 a. -, -. -. 900
r0selve anu silence aimost 70 % 1eiG IN tnes'
closing cnapters Oh the gospels. Otners may
explain IL % tnsy may; 10 me rs the awe
snS iIssrse, ~, . sienoe Oh tno very pressing
au 10Y a.. 'u .. . i1 y No W ~
Iss, snnh o.na1 ef thn s1asy oUu =.
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" sss N ssrI;sr nor,;o,s Of ,ba.a oosrs,. N.
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-h;oh .Ions e-sstaS ,hs rsoarS nf h,r,. M
won s,o. -. Ss VI. ~ ~" s...I IN ~.
rso,,nr LII. ~ ~ sn,r;,nsi ~sssrvs a. III,
vitnsss cony and mirror Of h;msslf 7. IA n
God and ~, 81 man Tbs aosnsI ~ cbri.t
S.h S'r L ~ .aaah onI S e.. ~ .asnh
Ia God like. The same God who has but hi.
finger upon the lips of nature, and
Wn NOV 10. mofu hsus ian iio gu
the skos tnan .no ear1h neeus tol
us usy me- tne same you wn .T
mas Soy oouhos 70 reasons power anu wll
NOT suner tne human neart 10 confuse p.esen
uuty Win imagineu9ns .o1 a.zalns =, io'u ~.
tningsi cue same 200 Sy Tue W. Mora oi nls ~
oI h;nh SOL ootiu a .n Lnn nS ~,
wnicn men moss nveo :" Snow, anu ICY
slso ms oivane snence coAoeaning o.ei 1ss
taings osyonu OUT motaa Powe. 80 uau ~,
spiritu.l observation-disclosures In the riser
n,srt ~ tbs go.nsI and hons of IN,
spirit which should usher in the Christian
| age God. the same God blessed over all
who can be so speechless to our hearts In M
ture and so silent to many of our question.
ings in his Christ, has given us in the gospe
Of the resurrection these present words and
this sure nope In wnicn We may 90 our worl
and 60 down TO death; BE not AFRAID, IL Is