The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-16
DEATHS MYSTERY SOLVED
An Easter Morning Sermon by Rev.
Frank NJ. Bristol. ID. ID.
Metropolitan Memorial VI. T. Church
Tbron-ed The Resurrection Of
Jesus Christ and It's Meaning to
Manl.ind-Thc True Philosophy Of
Life Revealed in the Gospel.


appropriate services yesterday morning.
The church had been handsomely deco
rated for the occasion with palms, lilies,
and roses. an Easter cross being prom
inent feature of the work. The pulpit and
altar were literally a mass of green and
bloom arranged in artistic manner.
The church was crowded, the aisles and
the space before the altar being filled
with camp chairs to accommodate the wor-
shippers, who Outnumbered the seating ca
pacity of the auditorium. President Nc
! Kinley, accompanied by his nephew and
niece, was an interested participant in the
| Easter service.
Rev. DR.. Frank NJ. Bristol preached on
the resurrection. choosing for his text:
That l may know him and the power OF
| his resurrection iii:1O.
THE key TO the grave is the key TO the
| heart" said Rev. DR.. Bristol in opening
his sermon. He who solves the mystery
of death wins the love of humanity. In
| this respect Jesus Christ is supreme in
| the thought of the world. He is the in
| SEPARATION of the old mans dream AID of
| the young mans vision, because he has
| conquered death and has brought immor-
| tally to life. All the meaning OF this
happy Easter time centres in the fact that
| the true philosophy of life is found in the
Gospel: that Jesus Christ now is and ever
will be the master of the human heart.
Theories Prove Nothing.
Facts reveal mystery while theories
prove nothing. Men may spin their fine
deductions about the doctrine of creation,
or any other taught in the scriptures, and
after they have been built up with great
care and pains single fact will ovefturn
them and show how foolish they really are.
True religion. like true science. is based
on fact. and the great basic fact of hu-
man history is the resurrection Of Jesus
Christ The important question regarding
the resurrection is not as to its possibil-
ity or probability. but the rational method
of investigation impels US TO ask is the
revelation fact.
From early times the Hebrew prophets,
law-givers. and teachers had been fore
telling this event. One of them said.
Thou wilt not suffer thine holy one to
see corruption and Christ himself had
frequently sought to prepare his disciples
for what was to take place. He had told
them that he would suffer and die at the
hands of the Jews: that he would be buried
in the tomb, and that on the third day he
should rise again. This had made pow
erful impression on the minds of his fol-
lowers.
That third day had an awful meaning
for them. Scattered by the crucifixiOn
and in despair over the tragedy on Calvary
they had not fully understood what was
meant. perhaps, but they had a vague no.
tion that there was to be temperance
of their dead Master. Consequently they
were expectant and excited on this third
day. The women came early TO the tomb
with the spices. and the wakeful disciples
Peter and John. ran hastily TO the sepul-
chre at the story of the women. The two
on the journey to Emmius conversed to-
gether OF their vague hopes, and when the
Master approached them, they said they
had hoped it was he who had come to re-
deem Israel. The third day thus had a
meaning to their hearts. All their hopes
and all the worlds hopes centred in that
day. 1t was 10 vindicate their faith or
show that it had been falsely placed. Then
and there was to be determined the moral
destiny of the race What was ii to reveal2
If a new order of things was not 10 come.
what despair awaited the race? Better
might nature fail to clothe the earth in liv-
ing green than for the Son of Man not TO
come forth from the grave. All the world
looks anXiously toward that tomb. whence
is to emerge the hope Of humanity. The
best and most devoted womaphood took
spices to the sepulchre. angels guarded it.
and they who had yelled their faces
pinioned in power and clad in light looked
IL silent awe and wonder on the scene.
An Historical Fact.
NO historical fact is better substan-
tiated than the resurrection of Christ. es-
tablished as it is by irreproachable wit
nesses. Six historians record ii as eye
They are Matthew, Mark Luke.
John. Peter, and Paul. and not one OF
them in all the ages has been impeached
They have been subjected TO constant and
searching criticism for eighteen centuries
and their testimony is stronger today than
when first attacked by the skeptics OF
The Grseco- Roman world. II Christ did not
rise from the dead as the scene is de-
scribed, it must be proven by fact. and
not by a theory, for the most significant
fact in human history is the resurrection
itself. There is no single event so well at
tested in the life OF Alexander or of Homer
in that of Caeser. Chariemagne or Crom-
well. or even in that OF Napoleon Bonaparte
The most important step We can take
in view of the fact of the resurrection is
the one which Paul took-a step into the |
benefits of the resurrection. 1t was the |
desire of Paul to know Christ. for il was
through him that he could enter into the |
promises To as many as know him does he |
give the power to become sons of Cod |
The hope that is hereafter the happy life |
in this world. joy in death are given by |
Christ. To know him is to have wrought |
within us a knowledge OF his divinity. to
taste Of his life. TO achieve faith, to learn |
of righteousness holiness. and heaven.
Paul speaks OF the 'unsearchable riches |
of Christ and he exhorts the Christian to |
growth in the knowledge of God. To him |
the knowledge Of God was an endless path. |
10 pursue which was the greatest earthly |
joy. 1t was a limitless realm for the |
imagination. He was full of this theme |
and drank deeper and deeper of the foun- |
tain of truth until his pen became as elo- |
quent as that of an arChangel.
Paul would know more of The great |
power which rolled away the sealed stoi e |
from the sepulchre and breathed new life |
into the dead body Of the Christ To his |
mind it was an exhibition of the mighty
power OF the Almighty God. the same as
that manifested in creation and that
which translated Enoch and Elijah. He |
would know more in his soul what this
power would do. He wanted not only a
of that power In the body OF
Christ. but the exercise of it upon us.
We may experience the power OF the
as a source OF comfort.
Though at death the body enters the earth
and the spirit returns 10 the Father. still
he body rests in hope. and at the spiritual
we shall enter into the new
life of happiness and eternal glory. And
as We stand above the narrow grave with
4 HID ,,ar oil Id. l