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


Shadow of unanswered question:
Why were they taken away from usS
Why were they ever given to us Il 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 crucifixion of agony in it Why?
Shadow on the graves of good men and
women who seemed to die before their
work was done. Shadow on all the
graves of children because we ask our
selves why so beautiful a craft
launched at all if it was to be wrecked
one mile outside of the harbor? But
what did Mary Magdalene have to do
in order to get more light on that
grave? She had only to wait After
awhile the Easter sun rolled up, and
the whole place was flooded with light.
What have you and | to do in order to
get more light on our own graves and
light upon the graves of our dear loved
ones? Only to wait.
Charles ", of Spain, with his serv-
ants and torches went down into the
vault of the metropolis where his an
cestors were buried, and went deeper,
further on, until he came to a cross
around which were arranged the
caskets of his ancestors He also
found caslzet containing the body of
one of his own family. He had that
casket opened, and there by embalm-
er's art he found that the body was as
perfect as Is years before when it was
entombed. But under the exploration
his body and mind persisted. Oh, my
| friends, do not let us morbidly struggle
with the shadows of the sepulcher.
What are we to do? Wait. 1t is not the
evening twilight that gets darker and
darker 1t is the morning twilight
| that gets brighter and brighter into
the perfect day. / preach it to-day.
Sunrise over Pere lie Chaise, sunrise
over Greyfriars churchyard, sunrise
over Greenwood, over WoOdlawn, over
Laurel Hill, over Mount Auburn, over
Congressional burying ground, sun
rise over every country graveyard, sun
rise over the catacombS, sunrise over
the sarcophagi where the ships lie
buried. Half past five o'clock among
the tOmbs now, but soon to be noon
day of explanation and beatitude. 1t
was in the morning twilight that Mary
Magdalene mistoolz Christ for a gar
dener.
Another thing the world and the
church have not observed; that is,
Christ's pathetic credentials. How do
you know it was not a gardener? His
garments said He was a gardener. The
flakes of the upturned earth scattered
upon His garment said He was garden
er. How do you know He was not gar
dener? All. Before Easter had gone by
He gave to some of his disciples His
three credentials. He showed them
His hands and His side. Three para
graphs written in rigid or depressed
letters. A scar in the right palm,
scar in the left palm. a scar amid the
ribs-scars, scars. That is the way
they knew Him. That is the way you
and | will know Him.
There is one more thing that the
world and the church have not noticed
in this resurrection of Christ, and that
is that Christ from Friday to Sabbath
was lifeless in a hot climate, where
sanitary prudence demanded that
burial take place the same day as
death, and where there was no ice to
retard dissolution. Yet. after three
days He comes up so healthful, so ro-
bust, and so rubicund Mary Magdalene
takes Him for gardener Not suppOs-
ing Him to be an invalid from a hos
pital, not supposing Him TO be corpse
from the tomb, but supposing Him to
be the gardener. Healthful by the
breath of the upturned sod, and by a
perpetual life in the sunshine.
After Christ's interment every cell
lular tissue broke down. and nerve,
and artery, and brain, were a physio-
logical wreck, and yet He comes up
swarthy, rubicund and well. When l
see after such mortuary silence such
radiant appearance, that settles it that
whatever should become of our Chris
tian dead, they are going to come up,
the nerves restrung, the optic nerve il
Illuminated, the ear drum a vibrate, the
whole body lifted up, without its
weakness and worldly uses for which
there is no resurrection. Come, is it
not time for US to go out to meet our
terminated dead? Can you not hear
the lifting of the rusted latch?
Oh, the glorious thought, the glori-
Gus consolation of this subject when 1
find Christ coming up without any of
the decorations, for you must remem-
Der He was lacerated and wounded
fearfully in the notwithstanding
up without one. What does that make
me think? That the grave will get
nothing of us except our wounds and
imperfections. Christ went into the
grave exhausted and bloodless All
the currents of His life had poured out
from His wounds. He had lived life
of trouble, sorrow and privation, and
then He died lingering death. His
entire body hung on four spikes. No
invalid of 20 years suffering ever went
into the grave so white and CHASTITY
and broken down as Christ, and yet
here He comes up so rubicund and ro-
bust she supposed Him to be the gar
dener.
I, 81 Il -,