The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-11
CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION.
Glad Music and Sweet Flowers Mark
ed the Services.

Glad Music and Sweet Flowers Mark
ed the Services.
The services at the Lutheran Chuch of
the Ascension were very largely attend
ed In fact the large auditorium of the
church could hardly Rave held more than
it did. 1t was beautifully decorated.
Palms, Easter lilies ana cut flowers were
arranged upon and around the altar in
an exceedingly tasteful manner, making,
with tho white silk coverings, of the altar
and tables, a pleasing combination of
white green and pink.
A short Easter address was delivered by
the pastor Rev Dr. Schaeffer, in lieu of
the sermon. In beginning his address
DR.. Schaeffer said: I'VE have been with
our Saviour for a week past witnessing
Ills sufferngs. Thursday night in hushed
amazement, we beheld the bitterness of
His agony in Gethsemanes awful strug
gle. Good Friday we stood, with breaking
hearts, around the cross on Calvary and
amid the darkness that shrouded that aw-
full scene in deepest gloom, heard the
Lamb of God cry, 1T is finished. With
the tenderness of kindly hands He was
laid away in Joseph's tomb The world
was hushed IN the silence of disappointed
hope. Have the powers of darkness con-
quered at last? Is death victorious?
Shall 1 see my loved dead no more? Has
eternal deaths dark pail seated down
over the world. Listenl See! Oh. glo-
rious sight! We stand to-day at the
empty sepulcher of our precious Lord
Humauity's hope, life for the dead
through a living Redeemer is the glorious
gospel for dying world on this Easter
morning! Go Iell my brethren and Peter
tell all the world l am risen again and go
to prepare place for you. Through all
the centuries breaking hearts have wan
dercd among the sealed graves. refusing TO
be comforted, because no light of hope
burst for the world into which the open
sepulcher was the ever open door!
The generations have been going on and
the mourners have gone about the streets.
IF a man die shall he live again?" has
been the sad cry of the generations. No
oracle has answered the question. The
longing for life, after death, in every
age and in every heart. has been indeed
the prophecy of the coming hope but that
was made sure only when Christ Jesus
rose. The redemption through Christ in
its browning glory as in its whole unfold
ing, is not in a specula ton, but in a series
of facts.
During His short ministry, fact after
fact reveals and confirms Him the COM
passionate, tender, helpful, Almighty Saw
ior. The cross attests the mystery of his
love--the elimination of the love, which
gave the only begotten Son for the world S
redemption. The empty sepuicher in Jo-
seph's garden points the world not to a
dead, but living Christi
The music was by the large choir under
the direction of Prof. Franz Hubner. A
lengthy programme of unusal excellence
and merit was rendered in a delightful
manner The Lutheran choir easily takes
rank as one of the best In the city.
The communion service, which closed
the exercises, was participated in by very
large number. Seven new members were
received at the morning service. making a
total Of fifty additions for the week, in
Guiding those received the previous Sun.
day.