Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-04-19
SHADOWS over our fa1l11y lot? Easter

! 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 a whole
crucifzion OF agony IL it. Why? Shad
ow on the graves Of gCod men and Wom
en- who seemed to die before their work
was dcne. Shadow on all the graves of
children because we ask ourselves why
! SO beautiful a craft launched at all if it
was to be wrecked one mile outside Of
! the harbor? But what did Mary Magda-
j 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,
and the whole place was flooded with
light What have you and I to do in or
4 der to get more light on our own graves
! and light upon the graves of our dear
/ loved ones? Only 70 wait.
The Morning Twilight.
/ Charles Of Spain, with his servants
/ and torches, went down into. the vault
! of the metropolis where his ancestors
were buried, and went deeper, farther
Oh until he came to q cross around which
were arranged the caskets Of his ances-
tors He also found a caslzet 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-
ration his body and mind persisted. Oh,
my friends, do not let US morbidly
struggle with the shadows of the sepu1-
cher. What are we to do? Wait. It is
not the evening twilight that gets dark
er and darker. It is the morning twi-
light that gets brighter and brighter in
to the perfect day. I preach 1T today.
Sunrise over Pere le Chaise, sunrise over
Greyfriars churchyard, sunrise over
Greenwood, over Woodlawn, over Lau-
rel Hill, over Mount Auburn, over Con-
gressional bUrying ground, sunrise over
every country graveyard, sunrise over
the catacombs, sunrise over the sarcoph-
agi where the ships lie buried. Half
past 5 o'clock among the tombs now,
but soon to be the MONDAY Of explana-
ton and beatitude. TWAS i'll the morn
ing twilight that Mary Magdalene mis-
took Christ for a gardener.
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
SOluICIlS SI1lN LC W SS q SoAOCICI. Liz
fakes Of the upturned earth scattered
upon his garments said he was gar
dener How do you know he was not a
gardener? Ali Before Easter had gone
by he gave TO some Of his disciples his
three credentials. He showed them his
hands and his side Three paragraphs
written in rigid or depressed letters. A
scar in the right palm, scar III the left
palm, a scar amid the ribs-scars, scars.
That is the way they knew him. That
is the way you and I will know him.
Aye, am [ saying this morning too
much when [ say that will be one of the
ways in which you and | will know each
other by the scars of earth--scaTs of ac-
cident, scars of Sickness scars of perse-
cution, scars of hard work, scars Of bat
tie, scars Of old age. When see Christ's
resuIrected body having scars, it makes
me think that our remOdeled and resur-
rected bodies will have scars. Why, be-
fore we get cut Of this world some of us
will be covered with scars all over.
Heaven will not be a bay into which
float summer yachts after a pleasuring
with the ga bunting and with the en-
broidered sails as fair as when they
were first unfurled Heaven will be
more like z navy yard where men-of-
war come IL from Trafalgar and Lepan
tO--men-of- with masts twisted by
q cyclone, Inen-of-War struck on all
sides by "A Founders, men-of-War with
decks scOrched OF the shell. Old Consti.
tutiOns, old Consultations, floating i'll
discharged from service to rest forever.
In the resurrection Christ credentialed
by scars. Yea and I will be credentialed
and will recognize each other by scars.
Do you think them now Disagreement:
Do you think them now badge of en-.
durance? [ tell you the glorious thought
this morning, they are going to be the
means Of heavenly recognition.
A Notable Fact.
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 sani-
tary prudence demanded that burial
take place the same day as death, and
where there was no ice to retard disso-
luton. Yet, after three days he comes
up SO healthful, SO robust and SO rubi-
cund Mary Magdalene takes him for a
gardener. Not supposing him to be an
invalid from q hospital, not supposing
him to be a 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 sun
shine.
After Christ S interment every cellular
tissue broke down, and nerve and artery
and brain were a physiological wreck,
and yet he comes up swarthy, rubicund
and we'll. When I see after such mortu-
airy silence such radiant appearance,
that settles it that whatever should be-