The herald., 1896-04-06
THE CHURCHES YESTERDAY
CHRIST AS TIE SERPENT IN THE WILDER
NESS AT UNITY
The Orthodox Hebrews Listen to an Eloquent
sermon-Easter at Union Avenue Method.
ist Episcopal - Services at the Railroad
M. e. Church-Other Addresses

M. e. Church-Other Addresses
The pastor of Unity Church, j. s. Thom-
son, preached a sermon yesterday morn
ing upon Christ as the Serpent IN the
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
even 30 must the Son of Man be lifted up"
John 3:14.
To the thoughtful ancients. the coled
serpent was symbol Of eternity; for the
coil, or ring. has no end. The serpent,
past eternity, devouring the days, weeks,
months, years, and the works of man. The
zodiac, the serpentine path OF the sun
through his twelve houses, was the celes-
tial dragon of the book of Revelation. of
Scandinavian theology, Of classic and
mysteries. The seventh letter of the Greek
alphabet represents serpent standing
upon Its own tail: and that letter is the in
itial OF the word life in Greek. The SER
pent is fitting symbol OF life; for, with
out the feet of other creatures, Its rapid
motion ia wonderful, and its whole body
seems to be full of life. The wisdom of
the serpent is proverbiai. "Be wise as
serpents''. said Christ; and it tempted and
persuaded Evo to love and work for knowl-
edge: The serpent. symbolizes beauty.
The line of beauty 10 curved line; and
the locomotion of the serpent exhibits a
series of graceful curves. A good charac-
ter is work of the highest art, exhibiting
grace and beauty. The serpent is not a
symbol Of morality; for wisdom and
beauty, or science and art: without
. trained conscience and an inspired heart,
cannot make a decent character. Man is
to live by every word of God, and not by
bread alone. The mere intellectualist soon
degenerates into cunning, falsehoo1 and
deceit; and then the serpent becomes 1.-THE
R-Al = - u. N-- H..
lament. or ''the old serpent, the liar from
the beginning, the prince of darkness, and
the rover up and down." according to Per-
sian scripture. The serpent is the symbol
of health. Serpents were entwined around
the staff of Esculapius. the famou, healer
q serpent; and he erected pole with a
braz "a serpent upon it i'll the camp of the
Heb ews. so that all the bitten people
could find the place where they would
be cured. The barber's pole is the modern
representative of the sign-board OF the
ancient healers. Christ spirituaIzed this
ancient symbol of health. He made it the
symbol of spiritual health. He knew the
way to make a mau a receiver Of divine
power for the healing of eoul and body.
He inspired people to cast out their evil
desires and their diseases. "Come unto
me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden,
and l will give you rest" And he gave
rest to the weary, faith to the despondent,
courage to the timid, purity to the unclean,
strength to the weak, and spiritual COM
panionship' to the lonely. "Looking unto
Jesus" as the source and illustration of
We shall never be disappointed.
The merely intellectual serpent ia danger
Gus. As the dragon, in ancient astronomy,
he bit Virgo, and prosecuted the woman
with the mau-child in the book of ReveIa-
ton; and while the woman's seed will put
to hoo 4ba tL.,c
pent will bite the heel Christ set his foot
on the head of serpent sin, and the serpent
stung him to death. Christ said that il he
were lifted up he would draw all men unto
him. We know that all men have not been
drawn unto him; and it follows that he
has not been lifted up. paganized
Christ, clothed in the robes of heathen
gods, and represented with the attributes Of
Hercules, Romulus, Apollo or Mithras, has
ignominiously failed to draw all men unto
him. The worship of this Christ, after
centuries of experience, has not saved us
from the dishonestes. adulterles, false
hoods, cruelties and sel1shness which now
disgrace Christendom. Is it not high
time to try the son Of Joseph and Mary.
the divine son of God and man. the
preacher of the sermon on the mount?
The theological Christ is a gigantic failure.
Let lis try the religious Christ. We need a
Christ that will refuse to pander to the
selfishness of human nature in raising
to heaven souls that deserve he'll, and in
consigning to hell souls whose characters
are worthy of heaven. The doctrine of for
giveness. in the name of pagan Christ. has
debauched the moral nature of Christendom
by putting premium upon vice and by
virtually encouraging people to sin, with
the offer of future pardon. The serpent is
a symbol of the resurrection, for it throws
OF It's old skin and rensws it's youth. At
death the spirit leaves forever it's house of
clay. 1t goes TO world where earthly
bodies are not needed. The spirit is the
maker and destroyer of its own bodies. In
this world an old man has outlived many
bodies, and the new ones were made out of
which the spirit may reside it will
weave garments for itself out of
the materials of that world.
The resurrection of the earthly body il an
Egyptian doctrine. Christ was the resur-
rection OF life; for he possessed the sense
OF eternal life, and taught that life is mas
ter and maker of forms. At death, life
rises ain its spiritual body, as St. Paul
teaches in the fifteenth chapter of First
Corinthians. We shall carry nothing out
of this world, except our characters and
our works. Not one atom of earthly mat
into heaven. not because matter i'm our
world is sinful or bad, but because it will
not be needed. "Flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of Cod" says Paul;
and he clearly states that "it is sown n
natural body, it is raised spiritual body.'
Union Avenue NJ. E. Church
Rev. Clarence True Wilson preached the
annual Easter sermon yesterday morning
at the Union Avenue M. L. church, taking
as his text:
"But now 10 Christ risen from the dead
and become the first fruits of them that
slept"
1t suggests two thoughts, the fact and
the doctrine of the Savior's resurrection.
God moves in mysterious way his won
ders to perform. He seems almost lways
to lead his people to victory through de-
feat. More than ever before the enemies
of righteousness hooted when they
saw the captain of our salvation crowned
l. Il.