The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-04-04
EASTER SERVICES
LARGELY TENDED
Church of Advent Crowded to
Its Capacity
SERMON BY RECTOR EWING
His Theme Was Taken from the Acts.
The Rector Discussed the Resur-
rectlon of the Dead in
Forceful Way.
SERMON BY RECTOR EWING


1t was found necessary to turn many
away from the doors.
The chancel was beautifully garnished
with flowers and potted plants.
The music under the direction of Choir
master e. G. Powell, was selected with
great taste, and was rendered in fine
churchly style.
The Rev. Quincy Ewing, the rector,
preached the sermon, his text being:
And when they heard of the resurrec-
ton of the dead, some mocked and 9TH
ers said, We will hear thee again of this
matter. Acts. xvii:1S
He said in part. Some Knocked Why
did they mock-those cultured and criti-
cal Athenians, to whom Paul had declared
the doctrine of the resurrection? Surely
! they didn't know that he had spoken nom
sense; they could not have proved that
| his doctrine was Incredible. 1t may be
that they misunderstood the apostle; that
the moment he spoke of the resurrection
of the dead they jumped to the conclusion
that he was presenting to them over
| again the doctrine in the form in which 1t
had been held by their ancestors or was
professed by the ignorant and supersti-
tious among their contemporaries; that
| he was endeavoring to get their assent to
| some proposition which all cultured Ath-
enians regarded as untenable and ridicu-
| lous implying religious belief, phios-
| ophy of things human and divine, earth
ly and heavenly. which they had utterly
| outgrown and cast from them, and could
not think of again adopting-iust as there
are those today, who mock at the same
doctrine because they associate 1t with
| some outgrown philosophy of religion be-
cause they identify it with some crude
conception as to the mode of rising from
| the dead, and as to the sort of environ-
ment that shall belong to the soul here
after.
Sometimes Imagine.
| People today are sometimes disposed
! to mock at the doctrine of the resurrec-
ton because they imagine that to accept
it they would have to believe that the
buried body will rise from the grave ages
after it has suffered dissolution ana it's
particles have entered into innumerable
new chemical combinations; or because
they think that they would have to keep
before the vision of their faith some gro
| tesque picture of heaven or hell, obnox-
| ious to their reason.
| "On the other hand it may be that the
Knockers at Athens belonged to that class
| of men who have convinced themselves,
or think they have, that the doctrine of
| the resurrection of the dead in any form
is untenable and Incredible, and that It
| is the part of wisdom, the function of
superior culture, to mock whenever that
doctrine is announced. Such men, in all
time and places always assume that their
denial of the resurrection is in harmony
with the open-eyed. reasonable and pro-
found Interpretation of the universe
Mockery Implies Assumption.
Their mockery implies this assump-
| tion implies that to assert the resur-
reetion is to reject the reasonable or the
unreasonable, to muzzle and pinion the
| critical faculties of the intellect and
give free wing and voice to the blind
fancies of sentimental emotion. Was that
assumption justified when Paul reached
Athens? Is II justified today? | will not
| ask has anybody the right to mock at
| the doctrine of the resurrection, as In
behalf of reason against unreason? Fo.
| that question were too easily answered
| in the negative; and time were wasted in
| the answer | will ask, rather, has any
| body the right to assert in the light OF our
| human experience, our entire knowledge
of ourselves, of our fellowmen, and the
world we live in, that the balance OF rea-
| lncl1neS toward Ine uSilldl Vi lie dliVA
death that The extinction of the human
| personality at death is more credible than
| it's survival Has anybody the right to
say that this world we live in appeals to
| our human intelligence as more reason
able reality on the supposition that death
Is the destruction of what we call the
spirit the mind, the character of men.
| than it does on the supposition that what
we call spirit, mind, character, passes
through death deathess?
The Fundamental Question.
This is the fundamental question we
need to concern, ourselves with; for upon
the answer we give 1t must rest ultimate
ly our right to assert our belief in i'm
mortality or our right TO reject that
belief 1t goes without saying that IL
denial of immortality harmonizes with
more reasonable Interpretation of the
world of our total experience than be-
lief In it,, we are under obligation to
make the denial, rejecting the belief;
and. If on the other hand, belief In i'm
mortality harmonizes with more rea-
sonable Interpretation of the world of our
total experience than denial of 1t, then
are we under obligation to reject the
ldenial and assert the belief. Let us ex-
| anime the question of life after death on
this ground; let US deal with 1t as we do
with any other question the answer to
of what appears to us the most reason
able Interpretation OF our human life and
experience.
Belief of Thousands.
1.-THE thousands of people living on this
earth today, who believe with utter con-
| fidence that they have communicated with
the dead. may all be mistaken; but on the
other hand they may not be; we do not
know that they are and have right
to assume that they are; their testimony
is testimony that must be considered,
and must carry with it some weight;
must in other words render it to some de-
gree probable that death does not mean
the humiliation of personality and char
acter.
'"Affrm the life of personal character
through and beyond death. and the af-
firmation carries with 1T denial of moth
ing dear and sacred to any loving heart
sacred and dear to any aspiring mind;
carries with 1t denial of no fact, no
principle, no law of the universe known
to our intelligence: denial OF nothing that
we feel to be Incorporated into our con-
sd Gus existence inseparable from 1t. IT
Isl an affirmation which presents to our
reason world reasonable enough to in
clude the deathless character as well as
the indestructible atom; a world reason
able enough to embody the purpose of
reasonable God world. divine world