The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1906-04-12

Resurrection that makes Christianity !,
a living faith. How clearly, how
simply but how dramatically the dis
ciples tell the story. There is
difference in some minor details but
the main outlines are Identical.
Judged purely as literature nothing
before nor since has been written that
surpasses the tragic story as told by
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The body of the dead Christ lies in
the tomb. There is every evidence
of death. The patient, loving heart
has ceased its beating. The warm
blood has stopped its flow. Rigid are
the limbs. The cold, the rigor, all
the evidences of death are there. The
great stone has been set before the
mouth of the tomb. In front of it
the Roman soldiers guard. The loved
ones, those who had been in close
communion with the Master, mourn
their dead. Mourn him as no other
was ever mourned. If we had known
the Saviour, known his love, his
Sweetness, his purity, his power,
how would we mourn? The days pass.
Days of wretchedness, of faith, of
dispair, of doubt, of hope, of misery.
1t is the women who, first of all his
loved ones, go to the tomb. 1t is al
ways true that the good women are
the last, the very last to desert the
ones they love. And the women went.
They knew what the Saviour had
foretold, that on the third day he
should rise again. And the women
went. The sentinels had been over
come by the glory that was there.
The angels had come and rolled away
the stone, the tomb was empty save
for the cerements of the dead.
Later the Christ in various places
showed himself. To the doubling
Thomas were shown the wounds in his
palms. to them all he spake lovingly,
naturally, the same dear Christ, and
they knew him and worshipped him.
| To us the sweetest sentence of it
all is. "And the angels came and
rolled away the stone. -
All. how many dead there be. How
many souls, lost to all hope. Dead.
dead, dead. Lost in worldliness,
losi in sin, in lust, in hopeless
misery, unless some angel "shall
come and roll the stone away. The
burden of the sin is too great. 1t
lies immovable before the entrance te
new life. 1t is the shadow Of the
past that falls blightingly upon all
promise for the future.
Gods angels are not all olsen.
bodied spirits. Some of them live il
flesh and blood among us. Some Of
them are women. A few of them are
men. They see, just as the angels
saw, the dead. They see not the
purity that shone about the Master,
but the dank miasma of sin and un
cleanness, and yet there are some
angels, some living angels, who viii
roll away the stone and permit tn
resurrection OF a soul. Let the les
son of the Eastertide, sink into al
our souls. Let us learn that our onl.
hope is in the Resurrection, that tn
loving God shall send some angel t.
roll away the stone, and. that the
with the new lease of life we shall
show ourselves to be manly men
;, Men who do not sin because the
: know not sin, but men who sin nc
because they do know. Because the
:, have felt the dampness of the grave
= the cold horror of the tomb, the agon
;. of the soul that kills itself. May tn
: JOYOUS Easter bring to us all SON
y angel who shall roll away the stone
= and then may we walk forth wit
humble hearts ready and in earnes
= with Gods help, to lead our liv'
Alright.