The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-19

have made his first posthumous appear
ance 10 a woman who had always been
illustrious for goodness. There are sanity
women who have always been sanity,
| sanity in girlhood sanity in infancy, al
ways sanity. In nearly all our families
there have been sanity aunts. In my
family circle it was sanity Aunt Phehe:
in yours sanity Aunt Martha or sanity
Aunt Ruth. one always sanity but not
so was the one spoken of in the text.
While you are not 20 confound her with
the repentant courtesan who had made
her long locks do the work of towel at
Christ's footwashing. you are not 10 for
get that she was exercised of seven devils.
What a capital of demonology she must
have been. What a chorus of all diabol-
ism. Seven devils-two for the eyes and
two for the hands, and two for the feet,
and one for the tongue Seven devils Yet
all these are eXtirpated, and now she is as
good as once she was bad. ana Christ
honors her with the first posthumous APP
pearance. What does that mean?
why it means for worst sinner greatest
grace; it means those lowest down shall
come, perhaps, highest up; it means that
the clock that strikes II a midnight may
strike u at midnoon; it means that the
grace of God is seven times stronger tAah
sin Mary Magdalen, the seven deviled,
became Mary Magdalen, the seven angel
ed. 1t means that when the Lord meets
us at last he viii not throw up to lis
what we have been. All he said to her
was Mary" Many people having met
her under such circumstances would have
said: Let me see how many devils did
you have ? one, two three, four, five, six,
seven. What a terrible piece you we're
when | first met you" The most of the
Christian women in our day would have
nothing to do with Mary Magdalen, even
after her conversion. lest somehow they
be compromised. The only thing | have
to say against women is that they have
not enough mercy for Mary Margalen.
Christ put all pathos and all reminis-
cence, and all anticipation, and all par
don, and all comfort, and all heaven into
one word of four letters, Mary! Mark
you Christ did not appear to some Bible
Elizabeth, or Bible Hannah, or Bible
Esther, or Bible Deborah, or Bible WASN'T,
but to Mary; not to a Mary against whom
nothing was said, not to Mary the mother
of Jesus, not to Mary, the mother of
James, not to Mary, the sister of Lazarus.
but to seven-deviled Mary.
There is a man seven deviled-devi of
avarice, devil of pride devil of hate, devil
of incidence devil of falsehood, devil of
strong drink devil of impurity. God can
take them all away, seven or seventy. l
rode over the new cantilever bridge that
spans Niagara bridge 800 feet long, $50
feet of chasm from bluff to bluff ] pass
ed over it without any anxiety. Why?
Because twenty-five locomotives and
twenty-five cars laden with gravel had
tested the bridge, thousands of people
standing on the Canadian side, thousands
standing on the American side to applaud
the achievement. And, however long the
train of our immortal interests may be,
we are to remember that Gods bridge of
mercy spanning the chasm of sin has been
fully tested by the awful tonnage of all
the pardoned sin of all the ages, church
militant standing on one bank, church tri-
umphant standing on the other bank. oh,
it was to the seven-deviled Mary that
Christ made his first post-mortem appear
ance.
There is another thing that the world
and the church have not observed in re-
gard to this resurrection, and that is, it
was the morning twilight.
If the chronometer had been invented
and Mary had as good a watch as some of
the Marys of our time have, she would
have found 1t was about half past 5
O'Clock a. m. Matthew says 1t was in the
dawn; Mark says 1t was at the sunrising;
Luke says It was very early in the morn
ing; John says It was while it was yet
dark. In other words, IL was twilight.
That was the o'clock at which Mary Mag
dalen Inistook Christ for the gardener.
What does that mean2 1t means there
are shadows over the grave untitled, shad-
ows of mystery that are lowering. Mary
stopped down and tried to look to the
other end of the crypt. She gave hys-
teric cutlery. She could not see to the
other end of the crypt Neither can you
see TO the other end of the grave of your
dead. Neither can we see to the other
end of our own grave. oh, IL there were
shadows over the family plot belonging
to Joseph of Arimathea, is it strange that
there should be some shadows over our
family lot? Easter dawn, not Easter noon.
Shadow of unanswered question! Why
were they taken away from us? Why were
they ever given to us if they were to be
taken so soon? why were they taken so
suddenly? why could they not have uttered
some farewell wogds? why? A short ques-
ton, but whole crucifXion of agony in
1t. Why2 Shadow on the graves of good
men and women who seemed to die before
their work was done. Shadow on all the
graves of children because we ask our
selves why so beautiful a craft launched
at all IL IL was TO be wrecked one mile
outside of the harbor2 But what did Mary
Magdalen have to do in order to get more
light on that grave. She had only TO wait
After a while the Easter sun rolled up, and
the whole place was flooded with light
What have you and / 10 do in order to get
more light on our own graves and light
upon the graves of our dear loved ones?
Only to walt.
Charles Fifth OF Spain with his servan, s
and torches went down into the vault OF
the metropolis where his ancestors were
! buried. ana went deeper, further on until
| he came to a cross around which were ar
ranged the Baskets Of his ancestors. He al
so found a casket conta lining the body of
one of his own family. He had that caske I
opened, and there by embalmers art he
found that the body was as perfect as
| eighteen years before when IL was entomb-
ed. But under the exploration his body
and mind persisted. Oh. my friends, do not
| let us morbidly struggle with the shadows
/ of the sepulchre. What are we to do?
| Wait 1t is not tho evening twilight that
| gets darker and darker. IL is the morning
| twilight that gets brighter and brighter
| into the perfect day. / preach IL to-day.
Sunrise over Pere lie Chaise, sunrise over
1 Greyfriars churchyard. sunrise over
| Greenwood, over Woodlawn. over Laurel
Hlll over Mount Auburn, over congress
| sional burying ground, sunrise over every
country graveyard, sunrise over the cata-
/ combs, sunrise over the sarcophagi where
| the ships lie buried Hair past o'clock
among the tombs now, but soon to be tho
l MONDAY OF explanation aud beautitude. Il
| was in the morning twilight that Mary