The Monitor-register., 1897-04-23

sanity aunts. In my family circle it
was sanity aunt Phebe; in yours saint
ly 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
| towel at Christ's foot washing, you are
not to forget that she was exercised of
seven devils. What d capital of demon
ology she must have been! What a cho-
rus 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 extlrpat-
ed, and now she is as good as once she
was bad, and Christ honors her with the
first ~posthumous appearance. What does
that mean?
Why, it means for worst sinner great
est grace; it means those lowest down
shall come, perhaps, highest up; 1t
means that the clock that strikes ~ at
midnight may strike 10 at midnoon; it
means that the grace of God is seven
times strongerth sin. Mary Magdalene
the seven deviled became Mary Magda-
lene 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 cir
cumstances 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 Chris
tian women in our day would have
nothing to do with Mary M~agdalene even
after her conversion, lest somehow they
be compromised. The only thing l have
to say against women is that they have
not enough mercy for Mary Magdalene.
Christ put all pathos and all reminis-
cence 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 BIZ
BILE Elizabeth or Bible Hannah OF 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
A Seven Deviled Man.
There is a 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, Z or 10.
I rode over the new cantileyer bridge
that spans Niagara-a bridge 900 feet
long, $50 feet of chasm from bluff to
bluff. l passed over it without any anx-
iety. Why? Because 20 locomotives and
% cars laden with gravel had tested the
bridge, thousands of people standing on
the Canadian side, thousands standing
on the American side TO applaud the
achievement. And however long the
train of our immortal interests 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 the ages,
church militant standing Oh one bank,
church triumphant standing on the 9th
er bank. Oh, it was to the seven deviled
Mary that Christ made his first post
l mortem appearance.
There is another thing that the world
and the church have not observed in re-
gard to this resurrection, and that is, it
was the morning twilight.
If the chronometer had been invented
and Mary had as good a watch as some
of the Marys of u time have, she would
have found it was about half past 5
o'clock a. H.. Matthew says it was in
the dawn; Mark says it was at the sun
rising; Luke says it was very early in
the morning; John says it was while it
was yet dark. In other words, it was
twilight. That was the o'clock at which
Mary Magdalene mistook Christ for the
gardener. What does that mean? 1t
means there are shadows over the grave
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of mystery that are
lowering. Mary stopped down and tried
to look to the other end of the crypt.
She gave hysteric cutlery. She could not
see to the other end of the crypt. Nei-
Their can you see to the other end of the
grave of your dead. Neither can we see
to the other end of our own grave. Oh,
II there were shadows over the family
plot belonging to Joseph of Arimathea,
is 1t strange that there should be some
shadows over our family lot? Easter
dawn, not Easter noon.
Shadow of unanswered question! Whv
were they taken away from us? Why
were they ever given to us if 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 a whole
crucifixion of agony in it. Why? Shad-
ow on the graves of good men and wom-
Ell who seemed to die before their work
was done. 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-
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 1 to do in OF
der to get more light OF our own graves
and light upon the graves of our dear
loved ones? Only to wait.
The Morning Twilight.
Charles V of Spain, with his servants
and torches, went down into the vault
of the metropolis where his ancestors
were buried, and went deeper, farther
on until he came 10 a cross around which
were arranged the baskets Of his ances-
tors. He also found a casket 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 sepul-
cher. What are we to do? Wait. 1t is
not the evening twilight that gets dark
er and darker. 1t is the morning twi-
light that gets brighter and brighter in
to the perfect day. I preach it today.
Sunrise over Pere lie 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 tOmES row