The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-03
PAXTON Its PASTOR
PHILADELPHIA CLERGYMAN AC-
CEPTED HOUSE OF HOPE CALL
YESTERDAY MORNING
BEGAN WITHvEASTER SUNDAY
Elouuent Sermo,,,,I a.. .ss Resurrec-
ton Is the New Pastors Initial
Address to His -FI0ck-It Is De-
nominated as the True Heart OF
the Religion of Christ Large
CongregationNPre resent.

Present.
e ~ -lJ $50
Rev. James d. Paxton, of Philadelphia,
recently called to the pastorate of the
House of Hope church, occupied the pull
pit yesterday morning and formally an
nounced his acceptance of the call.
The church was filled with a large ami
fashionable audience and the sentiment
Of Easter time was evident on every
hand Following the delivery of his ser
mon Mr. Paxton made a few. brief re-
marks by way of acceptance and express
ed appreciation of the confidence reposed
IN him and closed with prayer for the
future prosperity. of the church and it's
work. -.
A beautiful musical programme Of
Easter numbers was given by the quar-
tette. E: -4-z So ....z
Mr.. Paxton said:
Easter Sunday differs from the other
Sabbaths of the year only in its en-
phas1s On the other -Sabbaths we OBJ
serve the great resurrection fact, but
upon Easter Sunday we celebrate 1t. The
resurrection of Christ is the greatest
event OF history; and by and by We may
DE able to go little farther in our analy-
SIS or history. and say that it Is the only
event worth remembering In the worlds
career. %
we are accustomed to saying. we be-
leVe IN the resurrection of the Lord.
L believe we ought to be able to saw If
Is one of the things that we know. one
OF the things Of which We are absolute
ly certain. a 4
L want to give you as simply as I can
the unanswerable argument for the res
direction of the Lord: or, rather. will
not give you the argument. 1 Will simply
give TO you the facts, and then you your
self must supply from your own brair
the very evident argument
Imagine that all IS night, and sud-
denly from the flint OF divine Justice
there Is struck by the arm of divine love
a spark. 1t falls to the world. For =
few moments it seems to be lost and ex-
tlngulshed Count the worlds heart
enroos; one two, three, thirty of them
at length. and then this spark bursts
into beautiful. brilliant flame. Count
the worlds heart-throbs again: One. two
three; the flame Is gone. 1t is extfngufsh
ed. ana we say: oh. the night will come
aeain. But. no!1 the extinguishing of
tnat spark Is only the signal for the sun
1ooi, &C. tne dawn Is begun, and we can
iook OK Tor the coming MONDAY splendor
I have sometimes busted INV imao,ne-
tion with those old shepherds whom wa
~ met upon that certain Christmas
fntshl so long ago. I am quite sure thew
OFTEN met together at some accustomed
haunt or theirs and discussed that won
oerIui night when the angels appeared
a eIIt then asked themselves the question,
, w nat mas become Of that Holy ChildY
ihev remembered very well the slauph-
Ter OF the infants of Bethlehem. was
II possible that that Holy Boy had been
Killed among the others? No. because
some one had told them Of the report
tnat the holy family had gone to Egvpt.
ana that the Boy had escaped. But
what had become Of Him? And 80 the
dering, waiting. u -
Atlast there came from Jerusalem one
night one Of these shepherds Word was
sent TO the others that he had come hack
with strange tale, and soon thew were
all gathered together He tells them tha
story. lie, had been up to Jerusalem
ABOUT some business matter, and had
gone INTO the temple. and there, off in
=ohe corner. he had seen strange I'M
usual sight. In the midst of a group
OF scrlbes Pharisees, doctors and LAWYERS
was boy As the shepherd drew nearer
ne could hear them discussing certain
abstruse themes. and the boy answering
and asking questions. As the shepherd
say that bright. beautiful face he said
" itiiASOiI. All, wonder III 1t could he
Let me see; how many years ago Is 1t?
An, 1t Is eleven-no, it is twelve years
WE'VE years since that night, and this
Boy Is just about twelve years old He
advanced yet nearer. - He is now lust
back of where the Boy Is sitting. He
knew test he could apply Creeping
close to him he whispered into his ear:
Glory to God in the highest Instant
ly the Boy turns. His face meets the
answering plOW N ha chay
and without a moments hesitation the
Boy has added the rest Of the song, and
on earth peace, good will to men, All.
1t was He! The shepherd hastens back
to Bethlehem with the news and the
next day. you can wen believe, all the
shepherds took the road to Jerusalem.
But the Boy had gone -
Eighteen years more the Shepherds
waited. They had grown to be old men.
Then comes rumors from the banks
or the Jordan that a strange prophet had
arisen there. 1T must be He once more
They drew lots and sent two of their
number by the short cut across the
mountains to the valley of the Jordan
with instructions to see this new prophet
and find out who he was. They find a
queer individual, with long hair, shaggy
garments and uncouth ways; they find
him preaching and baptizing In the Jor-
dan valley. They approach and they try
with him the old test. Glory to God In
the highest, they say. John the Baptist
turns to them and says: What do you
know about Gods glory?' They put to
him the plain question, Art thou the
Christi He answered. No, but the
Christ Is coming very soon The shep-
herds hurry back to their Bethlehem
home, and in a few days the story comes
of new prophet. greater than any pre-
vious prophet. and now at last they know
the Messiah Is at work.
You can imagine how eagerly those
shepherds listened for every new tale
You can imagine how when they met the
Lord, they fairly hung upon His words.
You can readily understand how they
loved His miracles and. how they appre-
ciated His teaching. They knew that the
Master belonged to- them Had not the
message of His birth come to them first?
Had not the angels singled them out to be
the recipients of this heavenly message
and to hear that angelic music? Oh, how
eagerly they followed all the details of
the Masters careerl And at last when
word came, after three years of waiting.
that the Master had entered Jerusalem
in triumph OH, how pleased they were
and how anxioHslY they were expecting
further development. jfle
six days more pass. The shepherds
are together at their accustomed place, of
meeting. It is late at night Still they
are waiting. Finally they hear the APP
proach of rapid footsteps. Their comrade
bursts into the room But oh, they hard
ly knew him. Who Is this uncouth stran-
ger? Was it really. their comrade Joseph,
the shepherd? Yes, IT. was he: but, oh.
how changed! He was an old man before.
but he seems to be twenty years older
now. His garments are spattered with
mud. His hair looks as If he had torn