The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1897-05-14

4AAot - WhHb noAPe0 nWRA 4AAAAADAti
toiling amid the quarries Of cromarty,
until every rock became 70 him
q volume OF the world's bog
raphy. and he found the footsteps OF
the Creator in the old red sandstone.
Oh. the world wants Christ for the
Office, Christ for tho kitchen, . Christ
for the banking house. . Christ for the
garden while spading and planting
and irrigating the territory. oh. OF
course We want 70 see Christ at last In
royal robe and bediamonded, .
celestial equestrian mounting the
white horse, but from this Easter of
1897 TO our last Easter. on earth We
most need 10 see Christ Is Mary Mag
dalen saw him ut the day break, sup
posing Him to be gardener.
Another thing which the church and
the world have not noticed in regard
to the resurrection Of Christ Is that
He made His first post-mortem appear
deviled Mary Magdalen. One would
have supposed He would have made
His first posthumous appearance to a
woman who had always been illus
trious for goodness There are sanity
women who have always been sanity,
sanity in girlhood, sanity in infancy,
always sanity. In nearly all our fami-
lies there have been sanity aants. In
my family circle it was sanity Aunt
Phoebe; in yours sanity Aunt Martha
or sanity Aunt Ruth. Ono always
sanity. But not SO was the one spoken
OF in the text
While YOU are not to confound her
witt. the repentant courtesan who had
made her long locks do the work of n
towel at Christ's foot-washiug, you are
not to forget that she was exercised
of seven devils. What capital of
demonology she must have been.
What chorus Of all diabolism. Sew
en- 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, and
Christ honors her with the first pos
thumous appearance. What does that
mean?
why, It means for worst sinner
greater grace; it means those lowest
down shall come. perhaps, highest up
1t means that the clock that strikes IL
at midnight may strike IL at midnoon;
it means that the grace Of God Is seven
times stronger than sin. Mary Mag
dalen the seven deviled became Mary
Magdalen the seven angeled. 1t means
that when the lord meets us at last He
will not thrown up to us what we
have been. All He said to her was
..MaryP Many people having met her
.,..da. r,oh n;rna~atar caS ynnld have
said. LET me see, how many devils
did you have? one, two, three,
four. five. six, seven What n
terrible piece you were when l hrst
met YOU" The most of the Christian
women in our day would have moth
ing to do with Mary Magdalen
even after her conversion lest some
how they be compromised The only
thing have to say against women Is
that they have not enough mercy for
Mary Maedalen. Christ put all pathos,
and al "reminiscences, and all antic-
nation. and all pardon, and
all comfort. and al Heaven into
one word OF four letters, Nary
Mark you, Christ did not appear TO
acme Bible Elizabeth, or Bible Han
nah, or Bible Esther. or Bible De-
borah, or Bible Vashti, but to Mary;
not to Mary against whom nothing
was said, not to Mary the mother of
Jesus, not to Mary the mother OF
James, not to Mary the mother OF Lag
arus, but to a seven deviled Mary.
There Is a man seven-deviled-devil
of avarice, devil of pride, devil OF hate,
devil of Incidence, devil Of falsehood,
devil Of strong drink. devil of impure
ty. God can take them all away. seven
or seventy. rode over the new canti-
lever bridge that spans Niagara-a
bridge 900 feet long. $50 feet Of chasm
from bluff to bluff I passed over
Il without any .nxiety. Why? Be
cause 90 locomotives and % cars
laden with gravel had tested
the bridge, thousands OF people
standing on the Canadian side. thou
sands standing on the American side
to applaud the achievement And
however long the train of our immor-
tai interests may be. we are to re-
member that Gods bridge OF mercy
spanning the chasm of sin has been
fully tested by the awful tonnage OF
all the pardoned sin Of oil tho ages,
church militant standing on one bank.
church triumphant standing on the
other bank. Oh, it was to the seven
deviled Mary that Christ made his first
post-mortem appearance.
There is another thing that the
world and the church have not OBJ
served in regard to this resurrection,
and that is, it was the morning twi-
light.
If the chronometer had been invent
ed and Mary had as good watch as
some of the Marys of our time have,
she would have found it was about $3.50
a. m. Matthew saysit was in the dawn;
Mark says it was ut the sunrising;
Luke says 1t was very early
in the morning; John says 1t was
while It was yet dark In other
words, it was twilight. That was
the o'clock at which Mary Magdalen
mistook Christ for tho gardener. What
does that mean? It means that there
are shadows over the grave untitled,
shadows of mystery that are lowering.
Mary stopped down and tried to look
to the other end of the crypt She
gave hysteric outcry. She could not
SEQ 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, II there were shadows over the
family plot belonging to Joseph Of
Arimathea, is IL strange that there
.ax..1l 80 aor1o chadowa 0vap 0ur.