The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-16
POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE
Bishop Satterlee's Sermon mt st.
Marks Pro-Cnthedrat.

| a Streets. southeast, was the centre of in
terest for Episcopalians yesterday. There
| services were held throughout the day
with the Bishop of Washington Off lat
ing. The chancel was beautifully deco
rated with Easter lilies. flowers. and
| PALMS. while hanging from the walls with
in it were streamers of Southern snilax.
| The music was inspiring and many peo-
pie pass.ng on the street near the chur, Ii
were attracted inside by the beautiful
| strains.
The services began at $50 o'clock. in the
morning. when prayers were sad and holy
communion was administered. At the IL
O'Clock service. Bishop Satterlee OBLIGATED.
assisted by Rev. DR.. William l.. Devries,
rector of the church. and the Rev. 1T.
HAYES The Rev. DR.. Peters acted as dea-
| con. Holy communion was also admins
| tered at the close OF this service.
| The Bishop preached an eloquent sermon,
! taking for his theme THE Power of an
F., Endless Life" He said that Christ is the
-, only man who ever died and afterward
! returned to earth. In his death and le-
| turn to life there is undisputable evidence
| that there is a life hereafter in which God
is the predominating figure.
rs there a life to come? How many
men have asked themselves that ques-
tion? All the religions of this world.
heather, as well as Christian, tell us
about life hereafter" said the speaker.
Wherever you travel on this earth, you
find all men believing vaguely. mysteIi-
ously in the life to come. Yet where
- The proof? a man asks himself. You
20 cut and gaze up at the starlit skies,
hut the silent heavens give no token. You
gaze upon the face Of nature; there IS
change and decay in everything you see.
, there is death, but no proof of life after
! death. Go to ancient Nineveh. or ancient
Egypt, where you move with feeling of
awe through the dismantled ruins. You
are surrounded by gigantic traces OF fom-
er life: your feet are pressing the ground
trodden before you by untold multitudes.
You ask where those teeminS mulutudes
are now. but no voice answers; the silence
of the ages remains unbroken.
Countless armies of the dead have set
sail for the shores of time; every day and
every moment new souls are going. enc
by one our own friends, father, mother,
children. embark on the ocean of eternity.
but no traveller returns from the still land
beyond the sea. Not voice, not whisper,
comes back to tell us whether those souls
are in existence still. Is there no proof?
Must We be left in uncertainty? Is there
nothing to show that the land beyond the
sea is something more than dream?
AS Europe once gazed upon the discov-
erer of the western continent, the man
who first told of land beyond the bread
Atlantic, and proved it by going there, so
the whole human race gazes upon a more
wonderous Man. He told OF that land be-
yond the sea of death. whose sun never
sets and where God shall wipe away all
the tears from our eyes forever. He talk
ed OF that life to come, net as If it were a
dream, but a certainty, and all his teach
ings to his followers were about the way
to prepare for that endless life.
Then he said not merely TO his follow
ers, but openly to vast multitudes. that he
would go to that land and return. They
did not believe him. They nailed him 10
the cross and tainted him with his words
He saved others, himself he cannot save.
After he was dead they thrust a spear
through his heart to prove that he was
dead. Then after they had buried him, they
went to the Roman governor and said: Sir
we remember that that deceiver said, after
three days he would rise again.
And so to make matters sure, they Sc
cured his permission to stamp the Govern
ment seal upon the fastening of the tomb
and rolled stone of many tons weight
against the door, and set sentine,s to
watch the stone. Oh. how careful his enc
mics were that there should be 10 deceD-
ton. The preparations were complete. to
human eyes and human thought. that 81
lence OF the grave was TO remain unbrok-
en- forever.
The hours glide on and the appointed
time draws near. The moment at last ar
rivos. That door is open, and that store
is rolled away, not by force from without.
hut by a power from within. The risen
Saviour comes forth, and Eefore his face
the sentinels fee. And the whole world,
gazing upon that open door of the sepul-
chre and he form which energies there
from, beholds the one man of all the earth
whose soul has set sail from the shores
of time and returned from that land beyond
the sea
The life to come is, no more dream,
no more matter OF uncertainty and
doubt; It is fixed reality proven BIZ an
historical fact"
The music was exceptionally well render
ed. The boy choir OF the church was
strengthened by a number OF adult voices
and the combination proved a most eff
fective one. The following was the pro-
sramme:
Prelude, Third Sonata. first movement Gull
urInt: Professional, 100; Cllri.t Our Passover
10; IEtroit Anthem Behold, the Angel oi the |
Lord, Tours; Short Kyrics. Tails; Gloria Tibi |
Tyre; Nlcene Creed Eyre; Hymn Before sermon |
l2l; DoxOlogy, Old Tooth; Sanctus, Eyre; Com |
munion Hymn, lis: Gloria in Excelsis, Eyre: |
Reeessional, lI2; Pcstlude, iallelujah Chorus. |
Handel.
At $50 o'clock special services were held !
for the children of the Sunday school and |
the congregation. In the evening Bishop |
Satteriee again presided over the services |
and preached the sermon. The following /
musical programme was rendered:
Prelude march. from Israel in Egypt. Handel: /
Professional, 10; Gloria Pltri. Chant >: MaCni-
feat Nunc Dimittis, White, Anthem. As it Began |
to Dawn Foster; Hymn Before Sermon, liz; |
Hymn After Sermon, lIC: occasional l23 Post
lnlr IriLIrnrl.Ll Lln.I-