The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1897-04-23

to be Caesar, not supposing him to be
Socrates, but "supposing him to be the
gardener"
Oh, that Is what helped Joseph
Wedgwood, toiling amid the heat and
the dust of the potteries, until he could
make for Queen Charlotte the FIRST
royal table service OF English manu-
facture That was what helped James
Watt, scoffed at and caricatured, until
he could put on wheels the thunderbolt
OF power which roars by day and night
in every furnace of the locomotive en-
glnes of America. That is what helped
Hugh Miller, toiling amid the quarries
of Cromarty, until every rock became
to him a volume of the worlds biog-
raphy and he found the footsteps OF
the Creator in the old red sandstone.
Oh. the world wants Christ for the
Office, a Christ for the kitchen, a Christ
for the shop, Christ for the banking
house, Christ for the garden. while
spading and planting and irrigatlnG
the territory. Oh, Of course, we want
to see Christ at last in royal robe and
bediamoned, celestial equestrian
mounting the white horse. but from
this Easter of 1897 to our last Easter on
earth we most need to see Christ as
Mary Magdalen saw him at the day
break surprising him to be gar
dener."
Another thing which The church ana
the world have not noticed in regard
to the resurrection of Christ is that he
made his first post-mortem appearance
to one who had been the seven-deviled
Mary Magdalen. One would have sup
posed he would have made his hrst
posthrmous appearance to a woman
who had always been illustrious Tor
goodness. There are sanity women
who have always been sanity sanity
in girlhood, sanity in infancy, always
sanity. In nearly all our families
there have been sanity aunts. In my
family circle it was aunt Phebe; in
yours sanity aunt Martha or sanity
aunt Ruth. One always sanity. But
not so with the one spoken of in the
text.
While you are not to confound her
with the repugnant courtesan who had
towel at Christ's footwashing, you are
not to forget that she was exercised or
seven devils. What a capital or de-
monology she must have been. What
a chorus of all diabolism. 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, and Christ
honors her with the first postum
nous appearance? What doth that
mean?
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 impuri-
ty. God can take them all away, sew
en- or seventy. | rode over the new
cantileyer bridge that spans Niagara
a bridge 900 feet long, $50 feet of
chasm from bluff to bluff. | passed
over 1t without anxiety. Why? Be-
cause twenty-five locomotives and
twenty-five cars laden with gravel had
tested the bridge, thousands of people
standing on the Canadian side, thous-
ands standing on the American side to
applaud the achievement. And how
ever long the train of our immortal in
terests 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 ages, church militant stand
ing on one bank, church triumphant
standing on the other bank. Oh, it
was to the seven-deviled Mary that
Christ made His first post morton APP
pearance
There is another thing that the world
and the church have not observed in
regard to this resurrection. and that is,
it was the morning twilight.
If the chronOmeter had been invent
ed and Mary had as good a watch as
some Of the Marys of our time have.
she would have found it was about
half-past 5 o'clock a. m. Matthew says
it was in the dawn. Mark says it was
at the sunrising; Luke says it was very
early in the morning; John says it was
while 1t was yet dark. In other words,
Il was twilight. That was the o'clock
at which Mary Magdalen mistook Christ
for the gardener. What does that
mean? 1t means 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 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 grave. Oh. If there
we're shadows over the family plot be-
longing 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
we're to be taken SO soon? why were