Democratic messenger., 1906-04-14

books Of Biblical lore and studied the
nora of the sprngtlme In the Holy
Land. These writers have told you
that IN March and April there are flow
ers everywhere about Jcrusalen. The
valleys are covered with them the
hillsidcs are covered with them. They
push their golden heads between the
creviccs Of every rock And when you
think of this angel of my text greeting
Mary Mngdalcnc and Mary. the mother
OF James you think of him with piled
up banks OF roses OH every side and
amid great white calla lilies, as senti-
ncls lifting W their heads 10 keep
watch and amid great hosts Of carna-
tons and bluebclls and sweet violets
and Jonquils and tulips aud orchids
and dahias and asterS and pansies and
heliotropcS and wstaria You say TO
me: II do not care whether there are
oriental flowers or no When ! think
OF the garden surrounding Christ's
tomb ! think Of the most beautiful OF
all flowers. and then | say .Ioscph's
garden was like those flowers and not
only like them but far more beautiful
than they"
u Was Wrecked Garden.
You are right. my brother. No gar
den OF the western hemisphere can be
as beautiful as the garden Of the Pal
estinc hills. where Christ was buried In
Joseph's tomb. But alas. you would
be very much In error II you thought
this garden about JOseph's tomb was
beautiful when Mary Magdalene and
Mary the mother OF james. entered II
on that Easter morning II you would
20 with these women there YOU would
find the lilies and the roses and all the
other flowers tramplcd down. II was
once beautiful. hut now II is a wrecked
garden This beautiful garden looks
as though II had been uprOoted by IA
herd of swine or knocked down by u
pelting hailstorm. What was the mat
ter: No sooner did this angel OF the
resurrection appear and Christ come
forth from the tomb than the Roman
soldiers fell down like dead men. They
fell Hat among the flowers. Then. as
soon as they recovered from their
swoon. they rose and In Wild terror
fled Those lowers We're torn from
their roots or crushed as though Il herd
of stampcding cattle had janmcd their
hoofs into them. What lesson do we
therefore learn from these crushed
flowers lyin: around IN the wrecked
garden surrounding the tomb of Joseph
of Arimathca; Why. this Is the lesson
II we can only bring our risen Lord in
to touch with the intrenchcd armies OF
sin he will scatter the Satanic hosts as
he made the Roman guard drop before
him In the sunrise burst of that first
Easter morn oh, my friends, will this
not he your purpose, that Christ may
triumph over all the forces of evil in
trenchcd in our city streets!
We can never rid this world OF sin
unless We make the risen Christ our
leader and companion. Almost every
where we turn, even among the beau
tiful flowers about the tomb Of the
dead Christ, we can hear the hiss OF
the serpent. the touch OF whose fang
means eternal death unless the wound
is healed by divine medicancnt, Bish
op Meade relates how one day lie was
out walking IN beautiful garden with
young lady oh bishop She cried,
look at that lovely flower" With that
she reached over TO bush heavily lad
en- with the most exquisite roses. She
reached far forward To pluck the most
beautiful of Hll. when suddenly out of
that bush there darted the fang of
snake and fastened itself upon her
arm SO In the world about us. Even
In the most beautiful OF flower gardens
we find the Satanic serpcnts wriggling,
twisting, kissing, as the Roman guard
was cncampcd about the tomb of Jo-
seph of Arimathea from black Fri
day" to Easter morn oh. my friends.
will you not strive 10 bring forth this
risen Christ and let him make sin un-
der the flash of his eye crouch and
trample and die:
Beautiful Legend.
And. ii IL is important To let the risen
Christ come forth TO scatter sin out OF
a.. .F h.x