Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1898-04-14
Dr.. Edwards Easter Sermon.

1
the midst Of thee. --Isiah y, ..
The Easter festival comes to us This
year in a season OF gloom, anxiety and
alarm. Clouds are gathering around
IDS that are not made Of mist wreaths
clouds vivid with lightnings and
vocal with thunderings, portending
desolation and death, clouds sur
charged wikt'bdman wrath and pas
sion, clouds not destined to descend
upon the earth in gentle showers, but
thatshaIl smi5evit instead with '1ead-
en- rain and iron hail" 1t may be
that no human arm-can avert the com
| fiiet. NJ,
There is One. who is mighty TO save.
To Him let us turn in this hour. Of
peril and pray that he may avert the
threatening storm, and say as He did
\ on Galilee, peace, be, STILL Loving
,Eour country, obedient to. her laws.
Jealous of her honor and ready for
any, sacrifice which she may demand
df us, let us acknowledge the author
ity of Him who rides upon the
whiriwind and directs the storm. y &.
The text refers to1he manifestation
of God in the temple at Jerusalem, but
it refers to Him as living and IN the
midst of His people, and localized at
Jerusalem, the place where by types
and shadows He was manifested unto
them, that by their senses they might
realized His presence. They could
then look upon the visible emblem Of
His glory as it shone on the holy
Shekinah.
There is an intimation here that the
temple worshipers were emotional,
that they worshiped with intense fer
vor and were not afraid of noise as a
vehicle for the expression OF their
feelings. | am afraid that in these
latter days we have become too re-
fined and critical, too much inclined
to worship in subdued tones or to
leave to a few the rendering OF a
church service. We are afraid of
emotion and are content TO leave all
fervent demonstration to the Salvation
Army and few primitive Christians
| We are sometimes content to sit silent
while we leave to the few the respons-
es, the amens and the alleluiahs and
sing instead, oh! how languidly:
I'm vain we tune our formal songs,
In vain we strive to rise;
Hosannas languish on our tongues,
And our devotion dies
We might use gramophones in wor-
ship and have noise enough, but these
would repeat only the echoes of dead
voices. Worship audiblv expressed,
be that expression low or soft or loud,
must be the expression of living, be-
lieving and adoring hearts. If God
be present there will be feeling, and
in its proper place the expression of
that feeling in worthy manuer.
believe public worship to be to a
great extent disciplinary and educa-
tional. Soldiers must be drilled be-
fore they are effective, and they can
not be drilled singly or one at a time.
They must learn to move in compa-
nies, IN squadrons and in armies;
they must learn to move together as
one. AS units, as individuals they
might exist, but in the church they
are modified, so to speak, and so
made effective for the work before
them. When united they form an ir-
restible force. There is a divine wis
dom and philosophy at the basis OF a
united congregational worship, but
the only point wish to consider here
is that such united action includes the
idea OF leadership. In the Temple wor-
ship and in all true Christian worship
this leadership Is acknowledged and
felt. The foremost thought is that
in our worship there is a leader and
he is present and living. Christians
are encouraged to expect when they
meet together that the living Christ
will be in their midst
They must believe that he is per-
sonal God aaa that he is their leader.
Whosoever is able to realize that God
sustains toward his children such a
close and intimate relation. has n re-
ligion that can stimulate, uphold and
direct him, that can nerve his arm
with strength and ill his heart with
gladness.
In the ordinary affairs OF life there
must always be some great, good, wise
or powerful man who can serve as
leader and become in lesser sense Il
Messiah. William Tell and George
Washington were Messiahs Of patriot
ism, John Howard, Florence Nightin-
gale and Clara Barton, of philanthropy.
There must be great poets, great phil
osophsrs, great heroes in every field
OF thought and progress. In every
great contest there must be some
great hero to the front whose skill di-
reefs, whose valor inspires.
We can thus better understand the
necessity of an incarnation in whom
the qualities of God abide. who can
represent to us the holieI principles Of
justice. mercy and love TO the entire
human race. Our worldly heroes are
generally the opponents Of some high
thought or principle, but the divine
leader must blend IN himself all that