Connecticut western news., 1897-04-22
"supposing him to be gardener. n
 His First Appearance.

made his first postmortem appearance to one who had been the seven deviled Mary Magdalene. One would have sup posed he would have made his first post humous appearance to a woman who had always been illustrious for goodness. There are saintly women who have al- ways been saintly-saintly in girlhood, saintly in infancy, always saintly In nearly all our families there have been saintly aunts. In my family circle 1t was saintly aunt Phebe; in yours saint ly aunt Martha or saintly aunt Ruth. One always saintly. But not so was the one spoken of in the text.
 While you are not to confound her with the repentant courtesan who had made her long locks do the work of towel at Christ's foot washing, you are not to forget that she was exercised of seven devils. What capital of demon ology she must have beenl What cho- rus of all diabolisml 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 extirpat- ed, and now she is as good as once she was bad, and Christ honors her with the first posthumous appearance. What does that mean?
 Why, it means for worst sinner great est grace; it means those lowest down shall come, perhaps, highest up; it means that the clock that strikes 12 at midnight may strike 12 at midnoon; it means that the grace of God is seven times stronger than sin. Mary Magdalene the seven deviled became Mary Mazda lene the seven angeled. It means that when the Lord meets us at last he will not throw up to us what we have been. All he said to her was, "Maryr Many people having met her under such cir cumstances would have said: "Let me see, how many devils did you have? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. What terrible piece you were when I first met youp' The most of the Chris tian women in our day would have nothing to do with Mary Magdalene 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 Magdalene. Christ put all pathos and all reminis- cence and all anticipation and all pardon and all comfort and all heaven into one word of four letters, "Maryr" Mark you, Christ did not appear to some Bi- ble Elizabeth or Bible Hannah or Bible Esther or Bible Deborah 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 sister of Lazarus, but to seven deviled Mary
 A Seven Deviled Man.
 There is man seven deviled-devil 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, or 70. I rode over the new cantilever bridge that spans Niaeara-a bridge 900 feet long, $50 feet of chasm from bluff to bluff. l passed over it without any anx- iety. Why? Because 22 locomotives and 22 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 triumphant standing on the oth- CT 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 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 watch as some of the Marys of our time have, she would have found it was about half past o'clock a. ID. Matthew says it was in the dawn; Mark says it was at the sun rising; Luke gays it was very early in the morning; John says it was while it was yet dark. In other words, it was twilight. That was the o'clock at which Mary Magdalene mistook Christ for the gardener. What does that meanp 1t means there are shadows over the grave unlifted-shadows of mystery that are lowering. Mary stopped down apd tried to look to the other end of the crypt.
 
 see to the other end of the crypt. Nei- ther 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, if there were shadows over the family plot belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, is it strange that thtre should be some shadows over our family lot2 Easter dawn, not Easter noon.
 Shadow of unanswered question: Why were they taken away from usP 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 words? Why? A short question, but whole crucifxion of agony in it. Why? Shad- ow on the graves of good men and wom- en who seemed to die before their work was done. Shadow on all the graves of | children because we ask ourselves why | so beautiful craft launched at all if it was to be wrecked one mile outside of the harbor? But what did Mary Mazda lene have to do in order to get more light on that grave? She had only to wait. | After awhile the Easter sun rolled up, | anu ohO WhoAo Pioco Who hooucu WILL light. What have you and to do in or der to get more light on our own graves and light upon the graves of our dear loved ones? Only to wait.
 The Morning Twilight.
 Charles V of Spain, with his servants and torches, went down into the vault of the metropolis where his ancestors were buried, and went deeper, farther on until he came to cross around which were arranged the caskets of his ances-
 tors. He also found casket containing the body of one of his own family. He had that casket opened, and there by embalmer's art he found that the body
 was as perfect as IS years before when
 it was entombed. But under the explo- l rat;or, hin hndxr md x,ai,d ,,oriahoa Ol,