The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-04-23
A BLESSED MISTAKE.
MARY MAGDALENE BY THE
RIFLEE SARCOPHAGUS.
Rev. DIR. Talmage Pictures the Working
Day Christ in Common Apparel-The
Scars Of Esrth-GIorious Thoughts In.
spired by the Resurrection of Christ.

Scars OF Thoughts In,
spired by the Resurrection of Christ.
This sermon of DR.. Talmage will sc,
its readers to thinking on new lines and
will make this season of Easter more in
spring than ever. The text is John Xxx
ID. She. supposing him TO be the gard.
| ener."
Here are Mary Magdalene and Chris,
just after his resurrection For 400 years
a grim and CHASTITY tyrant had been kill
ing people and dragging them into his
cold palace He had a passion for human
skulls. For forty centuries he had been
unhindered in his work. He had taken
down kings and queens and conuuerol 5
and those without fame. In that cold
palace there Were shelves of skulls, and
pillars of skulls, and affairs of skulls, and
even the chalices at the table were made
OF bleached skulls. To the skeleton of
Abel he had added the skeleton of all the
ages. no ole had disputed his right until
one Good Friday, about 1857 years ago, as
near as | can calculate ii. a mighty
stranger came TO the door of that awful
palace, rolled back the door and went in.
and. Selling the tyrant, threw him TO the
pavement and put upon the |tyrant's neck
the heel Of triumph.
Then the mighty stranger. exploring all
the ghaStly furniture OF the place and
walking through the labyrinths. and open
ing the dark cellars of mystery and larry
ing under a roof the ribs of which were
made of human bones-tarrying for two
nights and q day. the nights very dark
anu the Gay very DISMAL, ne seized the |" .
chief pillars of that awful plalace and
rocked them until it began to fail, and
then laying hold OF the ponderous front
gate. hoisted it from its hinges and
marched forth. crying, Il am the Resur-
rectiOn.' That event We celebrate this
Easter morn. Handelian and Beethoven
miracles OF sound added to this floral dec
GRAFTON which has set the place abloom.
SCENE AT THE TOMB.
There are three or four things which the
world and the church ha va not nDricpi in
regard 10 the resurrection of Christ.
First, our Lord in gardeners attire. Mary
Masdalene. grief struck, stands by the
rif1ed SarcOphaguS of Christ and turns
around, hoping she can find the track of
the Sacriligious reSurrectioniSt who has
deSpolled the grave, and she finds some
one in working apparel come forth as If to
water the flowers or uproot the weeds
from the garden or set to reClimbing the
fallen Vine-SOme one in working apparel
his garments perhaps having the sign of
the dust and the dirt of the occupation.
Mary Magdalenc, on her face the rain
of a fresh shower Of weeping, turns to
his workman and charges him with the
dissertation of the tomb, when, 10, the
stranger responds, tiinging his whole soul
into one word which trembles with all the
sweetest rhythm of earth and heaven.
saying, Mary In that popularity of
accentuation all the ~incognito fell off, and
she found that instead Of talking with an
humble gardener of Asia Minor she was
talking with him who owns all the hang
ING SdIOcIlS VI lSdNSh. CONSIDERATIONS
the clusters of ~forgetmenots, the sunfiow-
er the chief of all, the morning sky and
midnight aurora, faring terraces of
beauty, blazing like a summer wall with
coronation roses and giants Of battle.
Blessed and glorious mistake of Mary
Magdalene! She supposing him to be the
gardener" What does that mean? 1t
means that we have an everyday Christ
for everyday work in everyday apparel.
Not on Sabbath morning in our most
seemly apparel are we more attractive to
Christ than we are in our everyday work
dress, managing our merchandise, shifting
our anvil, blowing our field, tending the
flying shuttles, mending the garments for
our household, providing food for our
families or toiling will weary pen or
weary pencil or weary chisel. A working
day Christ in working day apparel. for US
in our everyday toll. Put it into the
highest strain CT this Easter anthem,
~''Supposing him to be the gardener"
If Christ had appeared at daybreak with
a crown upon his head, that would have
seemed to ugges especial sympathy for
monarchs; if Christ had appeared in chain
of gold and with robe diamonded, that
would lave seemed to be especial sympa-
thy for the affiuent: if Christ had appear
ed with soldiers sash and sword dangling
at his side, that would have seemed to
imply especial sympathy for warriors; but
when 1 find Christ in gardeners habit.
with perhaps the flakes of the earth and
of the upturned soil upon his garments,
then l spell it out that he has hearty and
pathetic understanding with everyday
WORK ana everyday anxiety anu everyday
fatigue
IN WORKING CLOTHES.
Roll it down in comfort all through
these aisles. A working day Christ in
working day apparel. Tell it in the dark
est corridor of the mountain to the poor
miner. Tell it to the factory maid in most
unventilated establishment at Lowell or
Lancaster. Tell it to the clearer Of rough
est new ground in western wilderness.
Tell it to the sewing woman, a stitch in
tho ci5a for ayarv stitch in the garment
some of their cruel employers having no
right to think that they will get through
the door Of heaven any more than they
could through the eye of a broken needle
which has just dropped on the bare floor
from the pricked and bleeding fingers Of
the conSunptive sewing girl. Away with
your talk about hypOstatic union, and So
teriology Of the council of Trent, and the
metaphysics of religion which would
freeze practical Christianity out Of the
world, but pass along this gardeners Goa
to all nations that they may touch the
hem of it and feel the thrill Of the Christ
ly brotherhood. Not supposing the man
to be Caesar, not supposing him to be
Socrates, but ~"supposing him to be the
gardener"
Oh, that is what helped Joseph wedg-
wood, toiling amid the heat and the dust
of the potterieS, until he could make for
Queen Charlotte the first royal table serv-
ice of English manufacture! That was
what helped James Watt, scoffed at and
caricatured until he could put on wheels
lIC dLl0 ooII IN po"SA "AAAA cUA ~
day and night in every furnace Of the
locomotive engines of America That is
what helped Hugh Miller, toiling amid the
quarries of Cromarty, until every rock be-
came to him a volume OF the worlds bio
graphy and he found the footsteps Of the
Creator in the old red sandstone. Oh, the
world wants a Christ for the office. a
Christ for the kitchen, a Christ for the
shop, a Christ for the ankin house. a
Christ for the garden, while spading and
planting and irrigating the territory! Oh.
of course we want to see Christ at last IN
royal robe and bediamonded, a celestial
equestrian mounting the white horse. but
from the Easter of 1897. to our last Easter
on earth VIZ most need to see Christ as
Mary Magdalene saw him at the day
break. 'supposing him 20 be the gard
eneri"
HOP FOR GREAT SINNERS.
Another thing which the church and the
world have lot 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 Magda
lene. One would have imposed he would
have made his first posthumous appear
ance to a woman who had always been
-