The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-04-23


but pass along this gardeners coat to
all nations that they may touch the
hem of it and feel the thrill of the
Christly brotherhood. Not supposing
the man to be Cesar, not supposing
Him to be Socrates, but "supposiEg
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
manufacture. That was what helped
James Watt, scoffed at and carica-
tured, until he could put on wheels the
thunderbolt of power which roars by
day and by night in every furnace of
the locomotive engines of America
That is what helped Hugh Miller, toll
ing amid the quarries of Cromarty, un-
til every rock became to him volume
of the worlds biography, and he found
the footsteps of the Creator in the old
red sandstone. Oh, the world wants a
Christ for the office, Christ for the
kitchen, Christ for the shop, Christ
for the banking house. a Christ for
the garden, while spading and plant
ing and irrigating the territory. Oh,
of course we want to see Christ at last in
royal robe and bediamoned. a 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 Magdalene saw Him at
the daybreak, ''suppOsiHg Him to be
the 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 appearance
to one who had been the seven-deviled
Mary Magdalene. One would have
supposed He would have made His first
posthumous appearance to a women
who had always been illustrious for
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 Phobe; 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 to confound her
with the repentant cOurtesan who had
made her long locks do the work of a
towel at Christ's fOotwashing, you are
not to forget that she was exercised of
seven devils. What a capital of de-
monOlogy she must have been. What
a chorus of 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 she was once bad. and Christ hOnors
her with the first pOsthumOus appear
ance. 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 II at
midnight may strike 10 at midnoon; it
means that the grace of God is seven
times stronger than sin. Mary Magda-
lene the seven-deviled became Mary
Magdalene the seven-angeled. 1t
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.
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
were when first met you" The most of
the Christian women in our day would
have nothing to do with Mary Mag
dalene even after her conversion, lest
somehow they be compromised. The
only thing have to say against wom-
en- is that they have not enough mercy
for Mary Magdalene. Christ put all
pathoS. and all Renaissance. and all
anticipation, and all pardon, 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
Vashti, 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 a seven-deviled
Mary.
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, seven to
seventy. rode over the new canti-
lever bridge that spans Niagara
bridge 900 feet long, $50 feet of chasm
from bluff to bluff. l passed over it |
anxiety. Why? Because %
and % cars laden with |
gravel had tested the bridge, thou |
sands of people standing on the Cana
dian side, thousands of people stand |
ing on the American side to applaud |
the achievement. And however long
the train of our immortal interests NAV
be we are to remember that Gods ]
bridge of mercy spanning the chasm |
Of sin has been fully tested by the aw-
full tonnage of ali the pardoned sin of
all the ages, church militant standing |
on one bank, church triumphant stand |
Dg on the other bank. Oh. it was to |
the seven-deviled Mary that Christ
made his first pOSt-mOrtem aDDearaOce