The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-09-12
DIR. CHAPMANS SERMON
A SUNDAY DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
PAsToR.EVANcEusr.

New York CITY. - The following inn
pressive sermon has been prepared for
the press by the popular pastoreyangel-
ist, the Rev. DIR. j. Wilbur Chapman.
The subject Of the discourse IA "RabbOni"
and 10 was preached from the text Jesus
saith unto her Mary She turned herself,
and saith unto Him, RabbOnil which is 10
say, MASTER" John 20: Is.
The burial OF Christ lies between His
humiliation and His exhaltation; IL is one
of the resting points in His history, and
the grave to Him as to as all was the gate
of life. lie passet through il into His
glorious resurrection. If the crucihxion
be represented as one mountain and the
ascension as another then the burial of
Christ is like a valley, and since it is true
that in every valley mentioned in the
Scriptures there is a well of water or a
spring, so strange as it may seem in this
valley which seems TO be filled only with
shadows one stoops to drink at the well OF
comfort, for the death of Christ is the
very greatest possible comfort and help to
us, for in His death He takes away from
as all the sting and from the grave its VIC
tory, for the tomb of the Christian in all
the years this side Of the burial of Christ
has been tenanted with angels, but we
have not so much to do with His burial
narrative of the resurrection itself, but
rather an account Of the manner in which
he himself was convinced that the resur-
rection had taken place. IL is not so
much an argument, although on the basis
of it the strongest arguments have been
presented; it is rather a beautiful testi-
mony and a thrilling story When Mary
brought the startling intelligence that the
tomb was empty Peter and John made
for the spot at the top of their speed.
John outruns Peter, but naturally rever-
ence keeps him from entering the tomb.
He looks in, however, to convince himself
that the body has not been removed by
the enemies of Christ, for the linen
clothes in which He had been wrapped
were carefully taken off and left behind
When Peter comes up they two enter the
tomb together, and their differences are
reached after they have carefully studied
the surroundings. This simple narrative
will be to many minds more convincing
than a great argument 1t is told clearly
by an eye witness Of all the events We
see Mary breathlessly giving out the
startling news, and we watch the hasty
springing up of the two men and their
rapid racing along the streets out through
the gates to the garden: We behold John
standing painting at the rock hewn sep
u
/ toiling up behind but not hesitating mo-
ment. We see him entering and gazing at
1 this and that, till the articles in the
! tomb have told their story RRd the two
men leave the sepulcher together awed
/ and convinced, and the eye witness who
/ thus beautifully relates what he knew of
that wonderful morning adds, "He saw
and believed"
Mary came after tnat as quickly as she
! could, but exhausted with her rapid car
/ rying of the news to Peter and John was
not able to keep pace with them as they
ran to the tomb, and before she arrived
/ they were gone. She may have missed
them IN the streets as she came out of
the, city. At any rate, finding the tomb
still empty, and no one present to ex-
plain the reason Of it, she stands there
heart-broken and pours out her distress
IN tears. The grave being empty the
whole earth is empty to her; the dead
/ Christ was more to her than a living
world. She can but stand and lay heT
head upon the stone and let her tears
flow as from a broken heart So absorb.
| ing is her grief that the vision of angels
does not astonish her; she had but the
one thought, "They have taken away my
! Lord" She supposed, too, that all about
her must know her loss and understand
"H"O S"0 - SeehlhB, 50 ChdC Wneh she
sees the gardener as she supposes she
cries out, IF thou have borne Him
hence" She does not even mention His
name, for she cannot imagine that any
one IS thinking of any other than He who
fills her whole mind and heart. (Johr
20: lib. "But Mary stood without al
the sepulcher weeping and as she wept
she stopped down and looked into the sep
ulcher, and seeth two angels in white sit
ting, the one at the head and the other
at the feet, where the body of Jesus hac
lain. And they say unto her, Woman
why weepest thou? She saith unto them
Because they have taken away my Lord
and | know not where they have laC
Him. As Mary answers the angels she
heard step behind her and the door O
the tomb is darkened by a shadow, anC
on turning discerns dimly through hel
tears figure which naturally enough sh,
supposes to be the gardener. because hi
was the lkeliest person to be going about
the garden at that early hour. John %
l4l6). And when she had thus said sh,
turned herself back and saw Jesus stand
ing and knew not that it was Jesus
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weep
est thou? Whom seekest thou? She
suppcsng Him to be the gardener, saitl
unto Him, Sir, if Thou have borne Hin
hence, tell me whers Thou hast laid Him
and | will take Him away Jesus saitl
unto her. Mary! She turned herself anC
saith, unto Him, Rabboni which is t.
say, Master"
The utterance of her name was enough
to tell her it was some one who knew he
that was there. The voice seemed again
to command a calm within her for ono,
before that voice had banished from he
nature the evil spirits that had taken pos
session of her, but now again she step
out of darkness into light, and from beinI
broken-hearted she becomes the happies
creature in the world. Undoubtedl
there is very much more to the ministr
of angels than we imagine. Their al
tendance upon Jesus birth. their con
slant presence during all His life an,
even the guarding of His dead body !
but an example of their service to eac
Of us. All the nrnNidenIial daalinns q