The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1906-12-13
| SATURDAY
NIGHTTALKS.
By r. r. DAWSON, RUTLAND VI.
THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.
Dec. 16, 'O6-(Mat. 28:1-15:)
BY r. r. DAWSON,
RUTLAND VT.

! Dec. 16, 'O6-( Mat. 2S: :1-1S:)
The darkest day his world ever
saw was that Friday, when the sun
In heaven refused to look upon the
crucifixion of Jesus ofNazareth. and
a horror Of supernatural gloom over
spread the earth, But the brightest
day that ever dawnel upon this
planet begun the following Suhday
mornins, When the Mkhty Victor
arose in triumph from the broken
tomb in the Garden.
Do not waste valuable time at
tempting to prove the resurrection.
You might as we'll occupy your in
genuity in proving that the sun
shines, that watnt flows, hat Birtls
sing, That the seasons cone and go.
It would be possible perhfrs to find
skeptics who doubt that tie Pilgrim
Fathers landed on Plymolth Rock,
but 1t is easy to see that uch unbe-
levers must explain how The eighty
millions of people ne tbs ebuntrt
were uellded into the lelief that
they did land, and how 1t happens
tEGt traces of such an origin are
found in our Constitution, in our re-
ligious and educational institutions.
and in our annual festkal-Thanks
giving. So he who de,Bts the resz
direction of Jesus Christ must ex-
plain how more than 40 million of
the noblest, most intelligent people
were made to believe that He rose,
and account for the origin Of the
strongest, purest and best ciyiliza=
tion on the face Of the earth: That
will give sceptleisfn a cud to chew
on fer quite an extended period.
Let us all avoid the error of the
weeping women on the morning of
resurrection day of seeking the liv-
ing among the dead We spend too
much CT our time going backward
when we should be- going forward,
standing at the stem of the boat,
watching our lumiunus track, In
stead Of in tha pilot house steering
our craft into unknown seas. There
are thousands of preachers who are
fixing the eyes of their flocks upon
the historic Christ, instead of in
spring them with tie desire to go
out and find Him ir the person OF
His disciples, who ne4d a cup of cold
water,
That church which hugs to her
heart Holy Sepulchre, which per-
s1sts In obsolete ceremonies and ef-
fete customs, and dead usages will
have little influence upon the world
of to-day. If Christ Is anything at all
He is leader into the boundless flu
ture, not the custodian of ancient
relics. The most abundant and glo-
r1ous heritage Of the church Is in the
present and the future, all new and
good Ideas, all novel but sacred i'm
pulses, all healthy civilizations are
hers, a part of her unsearchable
riches. The tomb Is empty, never to
be occupied again. Let it 60. 1t
needs no adornment of flowers, no
decorations, no repairs, no lavish ex-
penditure of affection. Christ, once
out of, never went back to shed sem
timental tears over the place where
He rested for three days.
If you want to find Christ these
days, look for him in orphan asy-
lums. and homes for the unfortun-
ate; see him accompanying the Red
Cross nurses across bloody battle
fields, binding up the wounds OF
friend and foe alike; find him in
halls Of legislation, inspiring enact
ments in behalf of the laborers and
all who are oppressed; behold him
knocking off the shackles of super
stit1on from the nations who for ages
have sat in the valley of the shadow
3f death. Christ is not in the era
lie, neither Is He on the cross, nor in
The grave. There Is no man living on
his planet to-day, in any country
lnder the sun, who is so much alive,
who SO persistently thrusts himself
nto society, law, politics, education.
'eligion as He does. There are a
multitude of things that could have
been done once, that cannot be
lone now simply because Christ is
alive. He has to be reckoned with.
vote or not vote. the
hing fails, simply because Christ is
live. They tried to stop Him by
Killing Him. Then they tried to stop
Him, by killing his disciples. But
hey failed both times.
Thou fool,' he said that which
hou sowest is not quickened, except
,arth saying Let me die, and be
orgotten." The seed says, Put mo
where you will, only connect me with
he ministry of nature, and l will
ome back to you, and will do 1t
Bury me that l may
i've" So when Christ broke out of
hat rock-hewn sepulchre in the gar
len, he filled the whole earth with |
lis presence. He was gone from the |
omb, but not destroyed. Into each |
entury, he comes in a new form, but |
live In all of them. There are peo-
lie who would rather have a dead |
,hrist in their own sect and ritual |
han a living Savior outside their
wn approved boundaries. At the
cry moment that Mary was COM |
laining that they had taken away |
er Lord the Lord Himself was look |
ng at her. Oh, dry up your tears, |
e mourners, look for Christ in the /
hurch, In the school, in the library, |
q the law-courts, in the rulers pal
ce, in the poor mans house, on
Change, in halls Of legislation. You
nay not know him at first, any more
han weeping Mary did, but II you
7atch carefully you will, sooner or