The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1893-08-24

and their iniquLies will remember no
more"
: From other tragedies men have como
away exhausted and nervous and sleep
less; but there is one tragedy that sO0thes
and calms and saves. Calvary was the
stage on which 1t was enacted, the cur
. tain of The night falling at midnoon was
the drop scene, the thunder of falling
- rocks tho orchestra, angels IN the gall
lcrics and devils IN the pit tho specta-
tors, the tragedy cruciliXion. at is
Christ that died." Oh, triumphant
\ thought!
y 1t You 60 through the picture galleries
OF Versailles, you will find a great
I change there. ! said to friend who
c had been through those galleries, Are
l. hey as they were before tn, French
wa?" and | wa, told there was great
I change there; that all that multitude Of
Q pictures which represented NapOleOnic
: triumphs had been taken away, and in
i the frames were other pictures repre-
4 sentative Of Gcrmanic SUCCESS and vic
0 tory. On that all the scenes of satanic
triumph IN our world might be blotted
out, and that the whole world might be
Il picture gallery representing the trium-
phant Jesus! DOWN with the monarchy
oionr king! Han! Jesus. hail!
But | must give yOu the second cause
lof laul's exhilaraLion. If Christ had
stald in that grave, we never would have
6 )tten out of it. The grave would been
dark and dismal as the cOncieroerie dur
my the reign of terror, where the carts
came up only to take the victims out TO
the scatiOld. | do not wonder that the
ancients tried by embalmment of the
body to resist the dissolution Of death.
The grave is the darkest, deepest,
ghastllest chasm that was ever opened
II there be no light from the resllrrec-
tion throne streaming into it, but
christ staid In the tomb all Friday
night and all Saturday, all Saturday
night and Il part of Sunday morning
lie stald so long In the tomb that he
might lit it for us when we got there
lIe tarried two whole nights in the
grave, so that he saw how important
IT. N was to have plenty OF light, and ne
has flooded it with his own glory.
1t Is early Sunday morning, and we
startup to find the grave OF Christ
we IND the morning sun gliding the
dew and the shrubs are sweet as the
tooJ crushes them. What beautiful
place to be buried inl Wonder they did
{ no! treat Christ as well as when he
, was alive as they do now that he is
dead. Give the military salute to the
soldiers who stand guarding the dead.
But, harll to the crash! an earthq uake
Inc soldiers fall back as though they
were dead, and the stone at the door OF
, Chriats tomb spins down the hill, flung
u oy the arm of an angel. Come forth, j
Jesus! from the darkness into the sun
g light. Come forth and breathe the
C perfume Of Joseph's garden.
a Christ comes forth radiant, and as ht
G steps out of the excavation Of the rocl
" look down into the excavation anC
- IN the distance | see others c0minl
c hand III hand and troop after troop
Il and find it is Il long procession of the
~ precious dead. Among them are oul
i own loved ones--father, mother, broth
=. er, sister, companion children, coming
up out or the excavation of the rOcl
until the last one has stepped out into
u the light, and | am beWildered, and
cannot understand the scene until see
Christ wave his hand over the advanc
I ing procession from the rock, and heal
. him cry, 81 am the resurrection and the
1 lie; he who believeth IN me, though he
4 were dead. yet shall he live" And
[ then | notice that the long dirge of the
, worlds woe suddenly stops at the
archangelic shout of "Come FORTH:
On, my friends, If Christ had not
broken out of the grave you and
would never come out Of it, 1t would
have been another case Of Charlotte
Corday attempting to slay tyrant,
herself slain. 1t would have been
another case Of John Brown attem pt-
ing TO free the slaves himself hung.
1T would have been death and Christ
in IA grapple and death the victor. The
black flag would have hoated on all
the graves and mansoleums of the
dead. and hell would have cons uered
inc forces OF heaven and captured the
| rampartS Of God, and Satan would have
come TO the coronation in the palaces of
heaven, and it would have been devils
| on the throne and sons of God in the
dungeon.
| No! no' no! When that stone was
rolled from the door Of Christ's grave,
1t was hurled with such force that 1t
crashed In all the grave doors of Chris.
tendon, and now the tomb Is only a
bower where Gods children take a
slesta, an afternoon nap, to wake up
IN mighty invigOration. Christ Is
risen. ilang that lamp among all the
tombs of my dead. Hang 1T over my own
reStlng place. Christ's suffering is en-
uea; ms work Is done. The darkest
Friday afternoon of the worlds his.
tory becomes the brightest Sunday
morning or It's resurrection joy. The
good Friday Of bitter memories be-
comes the Easter of glorious transfer
| nation and resurructiOn.
ie mourning saints, dry every tear
For your departed Lord.
| Behold the place. He Is not here.
| The tomb is all unbarred.
| The gates Of death were closed In vain,
The Lord Is rsen he lives again.
give you the third cause of Pauls
exhilaration. WehOnor the right hand
more than we do the left. If in acci
dent or battle we must lose one hand,
let it be the left. The left hand being
nearer the heart. we may not do much
of the violent work of life with that
hand without physical danger, but he
who has the right arm in full play has
the mightiest of all earthly weapons.
In all ages and in all languages the
tight hand is the symbol of strength
and power and honor. Hiram set at
the right hand OfSOlomon Then we have