El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-04-03
In The CHURCHES.
First M. e. Church.


Rev. A, M. Lumpkin preached yes
terday morning from the teAt: The
Lord is risen indeed" Luke "a, "a. The
following is part of the discourse
There are two events that contend
alike for the highest place of honor In
the Christian church.
The one is the birth and the other
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. ct
strange to say the date of the former
of these two events is altogether I'M
known while the date upon which we
celebrate the latter may vary almost a
month from one year to the next.
Chronologers do not agree even as to
the year in which the Lord Jesus was
born, while first and last.every month.
from January to December, has been
chosen and speculated upon by some
eminaus authority as the month most
likely to have witnessed the nativity.
December the 18th was finally agreed
upon, somewhat arbitrarily by the
church as late IS the 9th century, as
the day upon which we ought to ceIe-
brste the Incarnation of the son of God.
Easter-the day upon which we cele-
brate the resurrection of Jesus, is de-
termined by the all Jewish Lunar CAL
endar. 1t occurs on the first Sabbath
after the first full moon, after March
the q. Or in other words If we would
determine upon what day Easter falls
we must take our stand at the 2lst. of
March wait until the first full noon,
then take the first Sabbath after the
full moon this will always be Easter.
Hence we see that Easter can never
come earlier than the % of March or
later than the 25 of April. It occurred
cd the % OF March in the year 1918
and will not do so again until the year
22S5 A. D.
Christmas and Easter-the birth and
the resurrection. 1t would be useless
to speculate as to the relative import
ance of these two great events. Since
could have occurred and without the
latter the former looses a very large
part of its significance.
In certain sense, nothing could be
more important than the incarnation
of the son of God, since sit marks"
as one has said, "the center and turn
ing point of the history of the world.
1t kindles, in mid winter, the holy fire
of love and gratitude, and donates the
advent Of the truly golden aye of per
sonal and religious freedom and liberty
may have teen the day or month or
year. one thing is sure, that it occur
red at the time when the world most
needed such Savior and was best pre-
pared to receive him.
But great as was this event Paul
seems to place even greater stress upon
the resurrection. Making it, as it
we're, III /, cocnsr stone thelvery fOu nda-
ton of the Christian dispensation,-
the only proof of general resurrec-
tion-and upon its validity bases the
entire claim of the church.
''If the dead rise not" says Paul
1--WE are of all men most miserable"
''our preaching is vain and your faith
Ia also vain.''
1t would be pleasant task to talk of
the resurrection of Jesus If we could
forget the dark background upon
which the picture. mustisbe drawn; if
We could forget Gethesemana, the be-
trsyers kiss, the purple robe and the
crown of thorns, If we could forget
Mount Calvary and the cross. But also
we cannot look upon the tomb of Jesus
without standing in the shadow of the
cross. The tragedy of three days be-
lore was fresh in the memory of
all. The Redeemer of the world had
been betrayed into the hands CT men.
He had been hurried away into the
presence of Pontius Pilot and turned
over to the thoughtle5s bowling mob
to be scourged and scoffed and spat
lp)n and finally to be nailed to the
cross.
They had seen the veil of the temple
rent in twain, the sun had hid his face
from such scene and heaven had en-
Ter ed her protest in peals of thunder.
Thus the son of God nailed to a cross
between two thieves, forsaken by his
had bowed his head and died. l have
looked upon the great paintings of the
great masters, of Titan and Van Dyke
and even Raphael himself. 1 have
seen the great work of Rubens at Ant
werp, as he has endeavored to transfer
TO canvass the scenes of the cross. But
how feeble are words and how insuffic-
ent is the brush TO portray such a
scene. There the Roman centurion
R no Id on gray hose ne is piercing seHo
With a Lance. The penitent thief, a
,rayhaired man, is invoking the
svlor for re last ii ne. To the left in
he fore round stands the VirRi in
Nary VIII IN Mary the wife of Cleophas
3 vainly en1eavoring to console.
Farther back st. John leans against
be cross of the impenitent thief,
Weeping as if his neart would break.
While Mary Magdaleneis on her knees
t the foot of the cross imploring the
to spare the sacred body of
er master. Has heaven or earth ever
ooked upon another such a scene as
hat? Eternal justice where were thy |
Angels of God where were We en-
amped and how restrained!
A little later he was taken down and |
aid in the tomb. But death could not |
ong retain her victim. On the morn
ng of the third day a mighty angel, |
Witt as the wings of light, came down |
rom heaven and lroled the stone away.
And the Son of God came forth bearing |
he keys OF heaven and crying 1 am He |
hat liveth and was dead and behold [ |
m alive forever.
What an array of witnesses we have |
o the resurrection?
He appeared: LIST. To Mary Mapda-