St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-30
THE SONG OF CASTER
Rev. William Wilkinson Upon the
Need Of the Resurrection.

Rev. William Wilkinson Upon the
Need of the Resurrection.
At St. Andrews church yesterday
morning the rector, Rev. William Will
kinson, preached as follows: / have
long felt much and deep dissatisfaction
with much which is said by theologians
about a future life, on grounds which
they are pleased to dignity with fine
names and with statements they
are pleased to call philosophIc,.
which every man is expected to accept
and to reject which is to incur their dis
pleasure and possibly curse. Much has
been spoken and printed which men of
an inquiring turn OF min and reason
ing powers, have found at a glance was
false and pernicious, which was incon-
sequential or foolish when examined
closely; thus great truths have come
into suspicion or been cast aside by men
who saw the weakness of the arguments
force and utility of the truths them
selves. The future life, we are told.
will be because men of every sort and in
all lands have looked for it, hoped
for it, expected it,, and so on.
Now, the truth is this will
of itself. even if true, which l do not
believe, prove anything. Men in all
lands have wanted to be rich, or we'll
TODD. With very great neneSs they
have longed for this state, but the
masses OF the people have not, never
earnestly prayed that those persons
they dearly loved, when sick, should be
restored to qealth; but we know that
weeping love does stand by open
graves. So, what men desire is no
proof of what they will receive, and
proves nothing. Truth to tell, L do not
believe that if you close the Bible, and
forget all Revelation tells US about a
life after death, we never could be
sure of it, nor could we say much more
for it than could be said for the future
life of a horse or dog. No proof of it
for man could be given than for a
beast. We take what the Bible tells US.
Read nature in its light. See how coll
sOnant the facts are, with man sur
%rOundingS and the wants of his being,
and with many things which before had
p~erpleXed US; and then we, as We shine
in borrowed light, call ourselves discov-
ererS. We, by our natural power, could
not in ages demonstrate a problem in
live again, and even now we
do not. We cannot by pure
knowledge understand. This is under
stood by faith. We have to accept the
records. 1t is future hope, based on
past eXperience-what others have seen
and put upon record-that our faith
may abound. | am speaking to persons
who do not desire to argue, but who
have come to worship. Now, what do
we learn from the resurrection of Christ,
as seen in the New Testament story?
What is its use?. We behold that death
hath not dominion at least in one realm
that it hath been met and vanquished
that in another realm it had not
Death Death is not a1s a a'"p purifying g's' fire
through which the impure can pass and
emerge holy and spotlesS, if we can in
fer anything from the risen Christ, it is
that. What men are here they will be
on the other side the grave. There is
no striking characteristic shown in the
life of the Savior before he was con
demned by PLATE and cruciied by the
people, which is not seen in the risen
Lord. In the days of his former life was
he tender in his regard for the woman
who was a sinner, in SimOn'S house,
Now. the very first person to whom he
appears is Mary Magdalene. out OF
whom he had cast seven devils. Be
fore, was he c~onSiderate of men who fol
any cause had fallen into the sad eX-
perience of honest doubt, as seen in his
W IN OioOiPASO Va Twill IL 1JOP
list, when he sent them to tell him the
things of the Kingdom. He is yet the
same, as shown by his treatment of st.
Thomas, who, when he was told by the
men who knew well Jesus, that He had
risen from the dead, that they had seen
Him, replied: Il will not believe un.
less / put my fingers into the print OF
the nails" Christ at once, and gladly
gave to st. Thomas the satisfaction, the
| damn ~ StrntJnn hn oclyAI. urnc
enough and needful to make
anew the faith OF this man
and so all through the story of the liv
ing Lord. Now, all this is not accident
OF a peradventure; it is of design; ii i:
; the unwritten plan upon which the
!, moral world is built. We need to see
it clearly and to hold it securely if WI
are to derive the intended strength
Easter is intended to bring us and tc
, men who are to be influenced by us, fol
, we may be absolutely sure that the res
direction of Christ is not to create
= wonder worship; to produce astonish
5 ment; but to induce conservation to Hi;
l holy service; to elevate the mind; t.
; ennoble the heart by showing mau hi
mission, purpose, dignity and true eterna
+ destiny. 1t is not so much a theoreti
g as it is a practical Christianity, whicl
: has its strongest impetus in the nara
tive of Easter, in the thrilling story 0
p the resurrection of the Son of God. Thi
2 is the use to which the apostle pats i
when he says: IF We be indeed riser
+ with Christ, seek those things which ar
above, to leave self and sin, to be cor
G formed to all the ideals and the teachin.
of the prophet of Nazareth" Whethe
q to look up to God directly OR TO hir
5 through men who surround Us, so as t
Y cheer and bless them, is the very prima
5 lesson of this holy season. We d
not need a microscopic eye to see tina
in this one thing lays the deepest an
v best meaning of the incarnation. !
# body hast thou prepared me, but VIII
# for pain, service, death. burial. resul
n r~ection, eXaltation in the new life, 5
> that even by way of anguish and ar
4 parent defeat might come the crownin
glory of the rule of Christ, His conques
t over death, and that as men see II
know it, they may be by it so ia
moved that they see in it a promise an
prophecy that they, too, shall not fai
of victory over the grim reaper, and Sc
cure this and all it means may by grace s
J. order their lives that for the bliss O
It faithful souls may we'll prepare. In a.
e that we are absolutely dependent O
e revelation which the Scriptures cor
tain. which the church has preserved a
n the pillar and ground of the truth, an,
e which will in all the power of an enc
e less life vanquish ali the baleful powe
1t OF mortal death. The song of Taste
n morn is a song of fatherhood. brother
hood and ~resounding victory.