St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-03-26
REV. WILLIAM WILKINSON.
Character as Seen in the Light of
Easter.

Character as Seen in the Light of
Easter.
In ST. Andrews church yesterday
there was special music. arranged for
the great feast of Easter. The sermon
in the morning was by the rector, Rev.
William Wilkinson. who took for his
subject: 1.-The Resurrection, as 1t
Proves Character TO Be Unchanged
by What We Call Death"
The text was: "Christ appeared first
to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he
cast seven devils" He said:
There are some desires which are
very deep in the minds of meu. We
want to know the mystery and the
meaning OF lives which appear to be
unfinished; which are cut Off in the
very midst of growing usefulness and
large possibility. We ask of the depart
ed whether or not death has seriously
changed them; whether in all
the essential traits of their char
acter they are as in this life
we knew them; Of course | take it
man: by nature. believes in life past
death. We want to know if the love,
which loved US so strongly, tenderIy
and well, is quenched, or if it is even
now purer, nobler, more intense, if
knowing as we cannot know upon
earth, for "he that is least in the King
dom of God, is in knowledge of the
reality and Solemnty of eternal
things greater than the most mighty
of the sons in time. they are
yet loving us, caring for us
if they know our sorrow. or are IN any
way concerned in what is for the good
of men, either in the individual or in
the multitude. Saint and sage, men in
the des ert, men in the busy mart, men
in the AFFECTION of poverty, and men
surrounded by all that wealth can give.
in every time and in every cline where
we have historic record to show the
longings of the human heart, have had
the queStiOnlngS which have In some
souls risen to an intensity which ha
made life burden and death welcome,
so the secret to them would be known.
AL nature, Notwithstanding her mani
fold power and wonderous design. is
silent here. Man, | believe, apart from
revelation i'll his highest culture. knows
no more about what there is past death
than did the men in early historic
days under tents on the plains of
Shinar. A paInstaking study of the
of Jesus after He came to life from
the dead, will make clear that
precisely the same outlines of
character are manifest. Show me
one representative line of thought,
one care for lnfirmity in body. in soul,
In Chrst's life in all His ministry before
Gethsemane, l will show you exactly
like thought and care after his resurrec-
ton. in our blindness we are in danger
of supposing that it just happened as it
did, and that that is all there is to it.
Such thing is not possible; it is, it
can be no other way than all of plan and
fixed purpose, all in the highest degree of
design. 1t was the rery business of Christ
to save sinners. For this he was content
to live, and very ready to die; 10 in
gratitude, no wickedness, so great as to
cast the doer of it outside of His love
and sympathy and power; there was
not man in all Palestine He dad not
stand ready 10 save and bless. His
dealings with women are seen to be so
pure and kind and sweet they have
called forth the warm admiration of the
best and the worst men alike from that
day to this,