Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-04-08

Christ upon whom We have leaned,
the Christ whom we have followed,
the Christ whose words have been our
meat and strength by day and by
night, Is gone. What shall we do? What
shall we DOR Let me read to you their
very words. When this stranger ac-
costed the two disciples they told to
him their story. Then In a despairing
tone they said, Eve trusted that II
had been he who should have re-
deemed Israel" Yes; 1--WE trusted, !"
but now all their hope was gone. They
were hopeless without Christ. But
when Christ revealed himself then
their despair was changed into trium-
plant hope.
My friend. on this hillside overlook
ing the little Emmaus village do you
feel helpless unless you have Christ ?
Do you pin TO him all your faith both
for this world and the next? If you do
Christ will reveal himself to you. III
you do not he will never reveal him.
self. In your Easter hopes I want you
TO feel the absolute dependence upon
cestor did many years ago. Rev. Ma
than Birdseye was among the most ia
nous New England dlyines OF his day.
He lived In Connecticut and was not
only very wealthy. but lived also I'm
the time when the people OF New Eng.
land owned slaves, and no also owned
them. There came during his lifetime
a prolonged drought IN that country
which threatened not only TO destroy
the crops. but also the cattle and the
men and women OF that region. Old
Nathan Birdseye one day gathered his
family and servants together and made
this simple yet earnest prayer: 30
God, thou knowest that without thee
We can do nothing. Save me and my
family and people. Save my cattle and
my crops. Save us, o God, save u.s.
Thou who dIdst rescue the children OF
Israel in the wilderness, rescue us
nowr'
The Risen Christ.
Then" so goes the letter written by
this good mans granddaughter to her
grandson. my grandfather stepped
out Of his home and stood as an old
man leaning upon his staff. With his
cane he gently pushed the earth at his
feet. As he pushed it he saw the soil
grow darker. Failing to his knees. the
old man began to dig the ground with
his bare fingers, Mt the same time call
ing for help. Spades were brought,
and there. at his very doorstep, was
dug n well which gave precious Ifo
saving drink to his family and the pec-
pie OF the surrounding bills. Thus, my
dear grandson, write this that you
may know that our family at that time
was saved by faith and by believing
prayer" Oh. my friends, Christ Is a
refuge in every age. AS the two dis
ciples listened to him and found COM
fort In their day, as my sainted an
cestor turned TO him In his trial and
was delivered, so may we In every
emergency Of our lives find help and
peace In looking TO him and praying to
him. VIII you not feel, as did the two
disciples on the Emmaus road. that
without Christ you can do nothing and
that with Christ you can do every
thing?
But / cannot close without a practi-
cal application TO our future work in
our relationship with our fellow men
and fellow Christian disciples. When
Jesus revealed himself to his disciples
In the little Emmaus village, what
did they do? Did they rejoicef Yes;
they rejoiced as glndly as did the old
father In the parable OF the prodigal
son, who cried out In ecstasy. 1T was
meet that we should make merry and
be glad. for this thy brother was
dead and is alive again and was lost
and IL foundw But these two disciples
did more than merely stay Mt home
Easter evening and rejoice with each
other. Their happiness over the EN-
maus revelation was too great to be
housed within four walls. They imme-
diately started back to Jerusalem.
They said to each other: Come, come,
come! Let us go and tell the apostles
and the other disciples that we have
seen the risen Christ Come. come.
come! Let us have them rejoice with
us as we. rejoice, as we have went
with them when they wept" We can
now see them running back to the Je-
rusalem capital on Easter night, and
Easter darkness was not made an ex-
cuse for laggard feet. They ran. Aye,
they ran as fast as their limbs could
carry them TO tell of the risen Christ.
The Glorious News.
We are all ready TO carry good news
to our fellow men. After Napoleon's
defeat Mt Waterloo n messenger start
ed for the Russian capital TO tell the
car that his national enemy was over
thrown. On and on he went. While
the horses were being saddled at the
different taverns he would sleep; then
into his saddle and on. When he rush.
ed into the Petersburg palace the car
was at dinner. But. undauntesl. he car
rfed the good news into the royal ban
quot hall. and then. after telling the
news, he dropped at the feet OF the
car and fell into slumber from
which no one could rouse him. II q
cars soldier would be so anxious to
tell his chief OF an earthly victory shall
we not be anxious, like the Emmaus
disciples. to tell all the world of a
heavenly victory? From this church
with flowers, where we
have seen the risen Christ in vision
and heard him In song and, sermon.
shall we not carry the news every
where7 The newsi Are. tell the glo-
rious news that Jesus has risen from
the dead and become the first fruits OF
them that slept
But there Ia one other fact that I
would impress upon your thoughts In
this Easter afternoon revelation. Az
soon as Christ revealed himself unto
his two disciples he vanished out of
their sight. II we do not mt once re-
ceiye Christ when he reveals himself.
In all probability we shall never re-
ceive him at all. One moment he is
here the next he Is gone forever.
Some or rs I'm our past lives know
when We saw him. We know that
there was q certain moment of a GER
tain service when Jesus came TO rs
and said. Here am l." and If we had
not at that moment received him rs
our Lord we would never have re-
ceived him. o men and women. are
you this Easter day In the Emmaus
~ m ur1.g A