The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-19
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
eY THE REV. FRANK DE WITT TALmAoE, D. D.

'E VII fAIWAGEs b. D.
 said, sOh. how this soul of mine longs to be gone. like bird out of Its cage to the realms of bliss?' Was not the dying Christian, A. M. French, amazed when he turned to the watchers and said: oh, my wife and dear daughter how sweet 10 diel Oh, that l could tell you how sweets Yes, like the disciples at the tomb, most Christians will be amazed to find how easy It Is to die, though Christ has again and again told us that death Is not annihilation, but a sleep.
 Then, like the disciples of old, we shall also be amazed after our own res urrection Though we have read again and again a description of heaven, yet when we come to that beautiful city we shall cry, like the Queen of Sheba in the presence of Solomon, "rhe half was not told me We shall be amazed at the beautiful river of life, in which no re- deemed immortal can ever be drowned. We shall be amazed at the arehing rain bow which St John saw round about the white throne, and yet no showers of raindrops or teardrops through which it's variegated colors can be reflected. We shall be amazed at our ears attuned to heavenly minstrelsy, and yet not hearing one discord Everywhere in heaven our eyes and ears and our sensibilities will be startled and stimulated, but never stunned. with amazement upon amaze ment.
 Then, above all. like the disciples of old, after our resurrection we shall be amazed at the infinity of Christs sacri- flee. A mother was one day talking to her little child and asked her. Daughter, are you not often amazed at the fact that Jesus died for you?" Why, no, f..n willing to die for me and why should not my Saviour? It is just like Christi But neither that little child nor anyone else this side of the grave has ever had grace enough to fathom or scale or compre- bend the immensities of a Saviours sac rihce It shall be only after we ourselves have been joined to the heavenly choris- ters that we shall fully realize what the Saviour's atonement means for us Our redeemed future, as with the disciples of old, will have amazement upon amaze ment, amazement upon amazement!
 What Mary Believed.
 The risen Lord appeared unto Mary with the same personality that He had before the crucifxion. How do l know? Mary thought He was the gardener. By that l do not believe Christs garments were bespattered with mud or that His
 
 flower stems, but I do believe that the risen Lord stood by the side of Mary as He had often done before the awful crucifixlon. I do believe that the risen Christ had the same voice, the same look, the same touch of the hand and the same hearty sympathy for earthly troubles that He had when He Himself was compelled to go hungry and knew not where to lay His head.
 It Is easy, even on Easter day, to have a distorted idea of the risen Lord. l well remember when a little boy how I used to study the hideous idols which my un- cle, John Talmage the missionary, sent us from far-off China. l would take a malformed and repulsiye image of stone or wood to my room. Then l would say to myself; How could any man worship such thing as that as a god? How could any worshiper suppose that his god could have two stumpy, withered legs, buried tailor fashion under a bloated ab- domen; two hateful eyes, squinting with strabismus, and mouth horrible with the demoniac grin of destroying mon- ster?' But the heather lowing before such shrine Is perhaps not more in error than some Christians are in ref erence to their risen Lord. They suppose the resurrected Christ is uncanny In looks and actions. After having suf- fered for our redemption they believe He is no longer human being, that He lives billions and billions of miles away from earth and has no part In our every day life. An, no. The Jesus who sym pathized with Mary's tears when she came to seek His body at the tomb Is the same Christ who sympathized with her troubles before the crucifixion.
 Thus the Christ who talked to Mary In ha d gospel for a practical everyday life. The boy Jesus who was in the carpenter shop is the resurrected Christ who is to- day ready to bend over the shop bench and help the mechanic In his toll The fatherless Christ who once saw Mary, the mother, struggling for her daily bread-for Joseph Is supposed to have died when the divine child was very young-is the sympathizing Saviour who today Is ready to help the widow and care for the orphans. We preach not an Easter Jesus in the elegant robes of king so much as in the plain garb of a workingman going forth to help those who are in the awful struggle for a phy- sical existence.
 The risen Lord appeared first unto Mary because her great love would not allow her to desert the rifed tomb. Read Ing carefully St Johns account of the resurrection. you will find that Mary made two visits to the garden where Christ's body was laid First she went as a woman. Even to this day the wo- men of the east on the first day of the week are accustomed to do just the same as they did in Christs time. For six long weeks at early dawn the women go to the new made graves to weep there. With my own eyes l have seen them going and heard them with my ears Just as the sun is peeping over the Ju- daen hills they come forth robed in white, with faces covered with long wells, wall ing and sobhng as they go. But no sooner did Mary reach the tomb and find 1t desecrated than she ran and told the disciples Peter and John What then happened? Why, Peter and John came to the tomb and verified the statement with their own eyes. Then they turned and went home but Mary the loving Mary, would not leave. She fingered asking every one she met practically the one question, Where have ye laid Him." She asked it of the two angels; she asked 1t of the supposed gardener then, as she still continued to finger about the tomb, Jesus revealed Himself unto her.
 What does the second journey of Mary to the rifled tomb of Jesus teach? Simply this: If we only go In spirit to the Easter tomb of Jesus, seeking Him and staying there. as Mary stayed, Christ will reveal Himself unto us. He will reveal Himself as He did to the noted Christian reformer of old whose daily and hourly prayer was this simple sentences More light, Lord, more light, more light" He will reveal Himself as He did to Thomas Chalmers, who after preaching for many years in his Kilmeny puluit sud-