Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-04-23

and torches, went down INTO the vault
Of the metropolis where his ancestors
were buried, and went deeper, farther
on until he came 10 a cross around which
were arranged the caskets Of his ances-
tors. He also found caskct containing
the body Of one Of his own family. DE
had that casket opened, and there by
embalmer's art be found that the body
was as perfect as IS years before when
it was entombed. But under the explo-
ration his body and mind perished. Oh,
my friends, do not let Us morbidly
struggle with the shadows of the sepul-
cher. What are we to do: Wait 1t is
not the evening twilight that gets dark
er and darker IL is the morning twi-
light that gets brighter and brighter in
to the perfect day. Ipreach It today.
Sunrise over Pere le Chaiso, sunrise over
Greyfriars churchyard, sunrise over
Greenwood, over Wcodlawn, over Lau-
rel Hill, over Mount Auburn, over Con-
gressional burying ground, sunrise over
every country graveyard, sunrise over
the catacombs, sunrise over the sarcoph.
agi where the ships lie buried. Half
past o'clock among the tombs now,
but soon TO be the noonday Of explana.
tion and beatitude. 1t was in the morn
ing twilight that Mary Magdalene mis-
took Christ for a gardener.
Another thing the world and the
church have not observed - that is,
Christ's pathetic credentials How do
you know it was not a gardener: His
garments said he was a gardener The
fakes Of the upturned earth scattered
upon his garments said he was gar
dener. How do you know be was not a
gardener? Ali Before Easter had gone
by he gave TO some Of his disciples his
three credentials He showed them his
hands and his side. Three paragraphs
written in rigid or depressed letters \
scar in the right palm, scar in the left
palm, scar amid the ribs-scars, scars.
That is the way they knew him. That
is the way you and will know HIM
Ave- am l saying this morning too
mucn when say that will be one Of the
ways in which you and Twill know each
other By the scars Of earth-scaTs Cf ac-
cident, scars Of sickness, scars Of pcrse-
cution, scars Of hard work, scars of bat
tie, scars Of old age When l see Christs
resurrected body having scaIs, 1t makes
me think that our remodoled and resur-
rected bodies will have scars Why, be-
fore we get out of this world some Of rs
will be covered with scars all over.
Heaven will not be a bay into which
float summer yachts after a pleasuring
with the gay bunting and with the en-
broidered sails as fair as when they
were first unfurled Heaven viii be
more like a navy yard where men-ot-
war come in from Trafalgar and Lcpan'
to-men-of-w with masts twisted by
a cyclone, men-of-War struck On all
sides by "a Founders, men-Cf-war with
decks scorched Of the shell. Old Consu-
tutions, old Consultations, floating IN
discharged from service 10 rest forever.
In the resurrection Christ CroocLtialed
by scars. You and Will be crecenrialod
and will recognize each other by scars.
Do you think them now Disagreement:
Do you think them now a badge Of en-
durance? l tell you the glorious thought
this morning, they are going 70 he the
means OF heavenly recognition.
A Notable Fact.
There is one more thing that the
world and the church have not noticed
in this resurrection Of Christ, and that
is that Christ from Friday to Sabbath
was lifeless in hot climate where sani-
tary prudence demanded that burial
take place the same day as death, and
where there was no ice to retard disso-
luton. Yet, after three days be comes
up so healthful, so robust and so rubi-
cund Mary Magdalene takes him for
gardener. Not supposing him to be an
invalid from hospital, not supposing
him to be a corpse from the tomb, but
supposing him 10 he the gardener
Healthful by the breath Of the upturned
sod and by perpetual life IN the sun
shine.
After Christ's interment every cellular
tissue broke down, and nerve and artery
and brain were a physiological wreck,
and yet he comes up swarthy, rubicund
and we'll When l see after such mortu-
airy silence such radiant appearance,
that settles it that whatever should be-
come Of the bodies of our Christian
dead, they are going 70 come up, the
nerves restrung, the optic nerve relI-
lumined, the ear drum avibrate, the
whole body lifted up. without its weak
nesses and worldly uses for which there
is no resurrection. Come, is il not al
most time for US TO 60 out 10 meet our
terminated dead? Can you not hear the
lifting Of the rusted latch:
Oh, the glorious thought, the glori-
Gus consolation Of this subject when
find Christ coming up without any OF
the lacerations-for you must remember
he was lacerated and wounded fearfully
in the crucihxion-coming Up without
one What does that make me think!
That the grave will get nothing Of rs
except our wounds and imporfoctions.
Christ went into the grave exhausted
and bloodless. All the currents of his
life had poured out from his wounds.
He had lived a life Of trouble, sorrow
and privation, and then he died a lin
sering death. His entire body hung on
four spikes. No invalid Of 90 years suf-
fering ever went into the grave so white
and ghastly and broken down as Christ,
and yet here he comes up so rubicund
and robust she supposed him to be the
gardener.
All, all the side aches, and the head
aches, and the back aches, and the.leg
aches, and the heart aches we will leave
where Christ left hisl The ear will come
up without its heaviness, the eye VIII
come up without its dimness, the lungs
will come up without oppressed respira-
ton Oh, what races we will run when
we become immortal athletesl oh, what
circuits we will take when, all earthly
imperfections subtraoted and all celes-
tial velooities added, we shall set up our
residence in that city which, though
yaster than all the cities Of this world