The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-07-06

yonder in the grave. The passover,
that great national holiday, which they
were then observing must have been a
meaningless mockery, since he to
whom it pointed had been slain upon
the cross.
To the disciples the day was doubiy
sad; they had hoped that. it was he
who should redeem Israel; they had
seer the manifestation of his matchless
power as he stilled the tempest and
raised the dead; they had been thrilled
by his mighty %eloquence as they heard
HIM speaking to the multitude as never
man spake, and somehow they had
hoped that he would establish a king
dom OF whose blessings they should be
the sharers. But when they see him
taken down from the cross dead, and
carried to the rock-hewn sepulcher and
the stone placed and seal set, and the
guard stationed, they give up in
despair and go back to the city, Or to
their homes, and wait through the long,
weary Sabbath until the day is gone,
and the Sabbath night darkens around
the tomb of Christ. But the women
who followed on to the sepulcher and
beheld how the body wrs laid, come
now upon the first day of the week,
very early in the morning, bringing
the spices and ointments which they
| had prepared, that they might perform
this last token of love to him whom
they had served. They think of the
great stone and the Roman guard, and
the governors seal, and that to their
weakness these difficulties are insur-
m%ountable; but love does not stop at
difficulties. Yea, like Luther, who
would press on in the cause of love and
right, though there were as many
devils as there were tiles upon the
roofs Of the houses, these women would
have pressed on had the guard been
multiplied into legions of Roman SOL
diers, or had this stone been magnified
into q mountain; they had that love
and courage BY which mi could chase
o thousand, and that faith which could
say to the mountain, ssremove hence to
yonder place" Love presses on amid
q thousand difficulties, and though
often discouraged and foiled and beaten
down, it rises and presses on until the
object of its desire is attained, and so
they find the stone rolled away; the
guard has fled; the grave is empty and
they see the angels iTs shining garments
asking, why seek We the living among
the deada He is not here; he is risen.
Mary Magdslene, not waiting to hear
the announcement, hastens back to the
city to tell John and Peter, who come
with her to see the empty tomb; con
vincing themselves of the fact, they
hasten away to tell the other disciples.
As yet no mortal eye had seen the risen
Master; the grave Is empty; but where
is he whom they lovedp Mary Magda-
lene waits with lingering love about
the grave until Jesus himself stands by
her side, and supposing him to be the
gardener, she Cxclaims: sslf thou hast
borne him hence, tell me where thou
hast laid him, that l may take him away"
For answer the Master utters but one
vocabulary" 1t is enough, her eyes
are no longer holden, she sees and
knows 1t is her Lord and Master.
"Raboni," she exclaims, and would
clasp him e'er he departs. But Jesus
saith unto her: s.touch me not; for I
have not ascended to my Father, but go
to my brethren, and say to them, that
l ascend to my Father and your Father,
and to my God and yeur God"
What are some of the lessons here
suggestedP
Let us see what the religion of Christ
has done for woman.
We are not told very much of the life
Of Mary Magdalene; she is mentioned
only . few times in the sacred record;
literature and art, however, have done
her great injustice; her name should
not be made the synonym OF an impure
life; she was simply an iuhabitant
Of the town Of Magdala, and not the
woman referred to by Christ, a. is
supposed, ~ the great sinner, but the
one out of whose troubled and afflicted
life Christ had driven the seven demons.
Az to what these demons were we are
not told. But they must have made
her life miserable; measured by her
gratitude and loyalty to Christ she
must have been greatly blessed by him,
and so II we come to the study Of this
text in the proper spirit and think Of
what Christ did for her and for these
other women that followed his earthly
ministry, and for all the women that
have come under the influence of his
religion, VI shall be convinced that il
there we're any Of the disciples Of the
Savior who had reasons to feel CRATE
full for the powers Of the gospel upon
their lives, 1t must have been these
women.
II we study the history of our mis-
sionary enterprises and see how that
the religion of Christ has found women
In the condition of barbarism and
servItude, instead of being mans help
mate All companion, IS designed by
the creator, we shall learn that all the
philosophy Of the ages could not
change this condition until the religion
Of Christ took hold OF their hearts and
the hearts Of their masters and taught
them their true relation to each other
and to God.
When our missionaries first went
into the foreign field they could preach
the gospel to men only, because women
we're denied this privilege; but rs our
Bible women beganto 60 forth and tell
the women Of India, China and Japan,
and the islands of the sea Of the power
OF Christ TO better their condition,
both IN this life and the life to come,
the converts TO the cause Of Christ
became more numerOusj and it may be
hoped that when the women of heathen
lands are turned from the idols of
Paganism to worship the true and
loving God, that the nations will be
moved and that the kingdoms of the
earth shall become the kingdoms of
our Lord and of his Christ.
Especially do we see what the relig-
ion Of Christ has done for women II we
take the picture of womsnhoOd as por-
trayed in Gods word. As far back
as Eden we hear the voice of God
inspiring the mother-heart with the
blessed promise that the seed of the
woman should bruise the serpeat's head.
Coming down further along the
, stream Of sacred history we read of
, Sarah, through whom the covenant of
blessing to the nations is to be realized,
God himself giving the promise, 81
will bless her and make her q mother
Of nations" OF Rebeckah, the fair
damsel, to whom the Lord directs the
servant Of Abraham, as q suitable
ooc,,.o;on for Isaac hia ohosao. tha