Los Angeles herald., 1905-05-08
NEW RECTOR FOR
CHRIST CHURCH
REV. BAKER P. LEE breaches
INAUGURAL SERMON
TELLS STORY OF THE CHRIST
Declares Easter Time Is Not Merely
a Memorial, But the Witness OF
a Truth-Praises His Pre-
decessor

The Rev. Baker P. Lee, the new rec
tor of Christ Protestant Episcopal
church. preached his inaugural sermon
at the service yesterday morning. he
took for his text st. Luke 20:5. He
said in part:
"Once more the dear mother churcn
has brought us to the sweet Easter
time and the music of the Easter bells
with the old, old story. Eliminate this
and all the essence is gone. The empty
tomb is the bugle call for all men. The
last hope of humanity was gone and
there was not single star in the night
of gloom. He was laying in the grave
like any other man and the lips of the
sky and earth were dumb.
''Easter Is not merely a memorial,
but the witness of a truth. just as truly
as yonder over the hills of Palestine in
the long ago the Jesus, our Christ, was
born.
"Over a century ago an infldel German
princess had her grave made entirely or
stone, all cemented and welded to-
gether, with the inscription, This Is a
Grave Purchased for All Eternity
But little did she reckon of the little
acorn that fell into the open grave and
developed a little tender shoot that
grew and pushed the massive tomb
asunder. Oh whoever you are, there
IS the seed of the resurrection"
Speaks of Predecessor
The Rev. Mr.. Lee paid eloquent trib-
utes to DR.. Bowling and the Rev. Mr..
Naumann, the former rector and as
sistant minister, respectively. He then
continued:
'I stand on the other side, not to
look back at the past, but at the pres
ent, and to make of Christ church a
wonder of the land. 1 am only human,
but pardon mistakes and forget your
personal preferences and you will have
something of which the whole church
will be proud.
1.-THE seed of the resurrection is
mystery. All life is a mystery. 1 look
at the stars and an astronomer says
If 1 will study astronomy 1 will under
stand, but that only makes the mys-
terry more. So mystery is all about us.
Arn't you going to accept it because
there is a mystery about it?
do you suppose God is going to
take my baby and that is all there
is of it? If that be true, then all life is
failure and disgrace, and Eat, drink
and be merry, for tomorrow we die
would be written across the house of
every man. If Christ is not risen from
the dead, it means that the Bible from
Genesis to Revelations is not true.
Then burn your churches and in their
yet smoking ashes erect temples to
Venus and Bacchus. Open the doors
of mems lusts and take away the glo-
rious liberty of womanhood. Make
your wife a menial and forget your
mothers prayer. Thank God, this is
but the hideous dream. God is living
and all is well with the world.
Proof of Resurrection
"Christ could not have given us great
er proof of his resurrection. There
seems to be no doubt concerning His
death. Sixty Roman soldiers stood
there before the open tomb, sealed
with the seal of Rome. Either Jesus
Christ rose from the dead or His
disciples stole him. Any way, the
body disappeared. If the soldiers were
asleep, how did they know, and if
they were not, why did they allow it?
Why should the dead body of dead
man do His disciples any good? Mary
saw Him. But you say she was an i'm
aginary woman. The apostles saw
Him and so did 500 people. Sixty days
after Pentecost 5000 people were stand
ing up for him and today all the
world depends upon Him. Darkness
preceded the dawn. People were Sleep
ing careless of the dead Galllean
peasant. They find the stone rolled
away. Oh, God, in His Blessing, I
would the stone be rolled away from
your heart, from all sorrow, malice and
bitterness. Then remember, Jesus has
rolled that stone away from the heart
of humanity"