Milford chronicle., 1906-04-13

by cemeteries, as Brooklyn has Id
Greenwood and Philadelphia its Laure
Hill, Boston its Mount Auburn, Chica
go its Rose Hill, New York its Wood
lawn and Paris its Pere-la-ChaiseY p
Yes, and the amazing fact about the
Jerusalem cemeteries is that you can
distinguish the different graves there,
just as you can pick out the different
graves in Calvary cemetery Of Long
Island. As you go through them you
can say, Here is the tomb Of a wealthy
family" or Here is the family plot Of
people who lived in moderate circum-
Stances" or Here is a potter's field,
where the poor are buried" You can
tell all this by studying the tOmbstOnes
and the elaborate mausOleums and the
neglected graves Now, as Mary Mag
dalene is leading you and me among
the tombs and graves which surround
Jerusalem to the grave of Christ, much
to my surprise she does not go toward
potter's field or to the place Ahere the
poor are buried. She directs her steps
toward a beautiful garden, in the cen
ter of which magnificent tomb has
been chiseled out of the solid rock |
I This must be the tomb of a very rich |
man. As she goes along l feel that she /
is beside herself with grief, and say: |
"Stop, Mary; stopl You are going the
wrong way. This is not the tomb Of
Christ, who died u pauper; this is the
tomb Of one of the wealthy men of the
east" Then Mary turns, with a sweet
smile, and says:
Buried as a King.
''Nay, friend, am not wrong. Christ
may have lived and died a poor man.
but he was buried as a king. Dost thou
not know that Joseph of Arimathea,
member of the sanhedrin and one Of
the great leaders Of the Jewish nation.
went and asked PLATE for Christ's
body after it was dead and that PLATE
gave it to him? And dost thou further ;
more not know that Joseph Of Arima-
thea took Christ's body and buried it in ,
his own family vault?" But" l again [
say, how could Joseph do that? Jesus q
did not own particle of clothes when
be died. The soldiers even gambled for a
the coat that he wore on his way to the G
cross" True" says Mary. "True, but 7
lidst thou not also know that, as one q
rich man gave Christ his own tomb in =
which to be buried, so Nicodemus, an a
)ther rich man, furnished the funds s
whereby Christ's body was appropri- {
ltely arrayed for the rich mans sepul- o
,her| Do you think that these words
which have put into the lips of Mary Il
ire purely imaginary? Then read Mark
", 43, Joseph Of Arimathea, an hon a
'rable counselor, who also waited for d
he kingdom of God, came and went in s.
'oldly unto PLATE and craved the body N
# Jesus, and he gave the body to Jo- el
eph." Then turn to John xix, 80, "And n
here came also Nicodemus, who, at the al
rst, came to Jesus by night and m
rought mixture Of myrrh and aloes, g
bout a hundred pound weight. Then 81
DOk they the body of Jesus and wound d'
in linen clothes with the spices, as to
be manner Of the Jews is to bury" W
Now, what is the deduction of these to
wO thoughts? Why, as Nicodemus. dC
le rich man, gave the expensive spices 1t
18th which to preserve Christ's body sp
'r the burial, and as Joseph of Arima- Il
lea, another rich man, gave Christ Al
IS sepulcher for the BURIAL therefore &c
means that all the rich men of the ri'
orld and all the brains of the world
lall yet stand by the empty tomb Of IA
lrist and declare him Lord of lords l
Id King of kings. Oh my friends, ! tn
n glad Christ's cradle was in man Mi
r. That proves that Jesus came a ha
lrist for the poor and the outcasts. Al
e sOrrowing and the afflicted. But l a
q also glad that Christ's dead body
as wrapped in the spices Of u Nico-
mus and laid in the family vault Of Oh
Joseph. That symbOlizes to me this tbe
her fact that some day all the mn
ghtiest men of earth shall yet ac- cor
Tim him not only the risen Lord, but ma
20 their Redeemer and Friend. May mol
ut glorious day be not far distant! tif,
is said that just over his study desk !
Hawarden William E. Gladstone TOW
d these words framed and hung upon AT
, wall; ''Thou wilt keep him in per We
It peace whose mind is stayed on anc
ee." So may all the great and hon STR,
ID men of this day find their perfect to
ace in a risen Lord, as Nicodemus of
d Joseph of olden times honored him tho
the sepulcher. ion
last
Another Startling Fact. and
But as we approach a little near to has