Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-04-12
sepulcher and be exchanged for the
| coronation robes Of heaven.


Every note with wonder swell.
Sin o'erthrown and captive he'll:
Where IL helrs once dreaded king.
Where, o death, thy mortal st!pg7
Angels at the Tomb.
There Is another startling fact about
this cmptied sepulcher to which most
people give but little heed. That fact
does not deal so much with the empted
crypt, emptled of Christ's body. as that
the angels Of God were watching by
that silent tomb. In the last chapter
Of Matthew we read that an angel of
heaven descended on the first Easter
morn and rolled away the stone that
was In front OF the door Of the tomb
and sat upon It. This was the angel
Who was speaking to the Mary Magda-
lene OF my text. In the twentieth
chapter Of John we read that there
were more angels than one there.
There was "one Mt the head and the
other at the feet where the body Of
Jesus had lain" There may have been
two angels, three angels. a hundred
angels-aye, a thousand angels-about
the tomb Of the risen Lord. Because the
disciples did not see them all that does
not prove they were not there In 9th
err words, l want you to grasp this
great truth: AS the angels of heaven
came TO the manger to sing Christ n
farewell song. so, Mt the open door OF
the tomb I want you to see the angels
coming to sing to the risen Lord a glo-
rious Easter song of triumph Angels !,
Angels. Angels at the birth Of Jesus
angels at his resurrection.
Now, as the angels had such a large
part to do in the earthly life of our
Lord Jesus Christ the question which
comes to our mind is this who are
these angels: If they were important
TO Christs life, are they important for
ours Angels are mentioned at least
80 different times in the Bible They
were important to the lives Of Abra
ham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses
and Joshua and David and all the 9TH
or mighty servants of God in the Old
and the New Testament, and they are
important TO our life as they were to
Christs. When we shall arise from
our graves God will send his angels to
greet us as he sent his angels to greet
Christ. We may he pardOned for Won
dcring if the heavenly messengers who
shall stand by our open graves will be
those dear ones who have gone beyond
and have come back to earth to take
us TO our celestial come We wonder
I if Tie messes ser who will open our
closed eyeids on our first Easter morn
shall bc mother or father or brother or
! little child. Lord Jesus, who art thou
going to send to us at that time? Will
it be one of our loved ones who is to
be thy messenger?
Who Are the AngeIss
If you have stood by many eathbeG5
| you know that when the Christian Is
dying. if he is Of Il clear mind, he is
very apt to see his dear ones beyond
and to recognize them and even to call
them by name. When was n young
pastor in Pittsburg one Of the dearest
girls Of my church fell sick unto death
with consumption. She grew weaker
and weaker. but her mind was perfect
! ly clear. A short time before she died
Jennie looked up and said. Mother,
there are grandma and auntic. and they
are coming for me-" The mother
thought her daughter was in deirium
and bent over the side Of the bed and
said. Jennie, Jennie. do YOU know
me- why. of course, | know you
mother. am not our of my mind. DC
you not see them? Grandma and
auntic are coming for me. Don't you
see them? And they are singing now
Cannot you hear them singing: And
oh, the music is so sweet" Have not
YOU had such experiences in your own
family life?
When the great Henry Clay was
about to die he looked up. and sud.
denly his face was radiant with a
smile as he called: Mother. Mother
Mother" Who will say that his moth
err did not come as Gods messenger to
an angel. in the Scriptural sense. is a
messenger OF God. Christ had his an
gels ut the Easter tomb. and We. too
shall have ours. Will they be our own
dear ones? q God. we are so anxious
to see some of them that it does seem
we cannot wait any longer. We want
TO hold the dear hands AMI kiss the
dear lips. Father. send them to us il
it be thy will. Let their redeemed
spirits hover over our dying pillows
Let them come soon to take us to thee
Angels. Angels. Angels at the man
ger, Angels at the emptied tomb Of 8
risen Lord.
But there IS still another startling
fact about this Easter tomb to which
I would call your attention. That is
he garden surrounding it, In ninety
nine times out of hundred, when you
have pictured this tomb of Joseph OF
Armathea. il has been in the midst OF
garden. Then you have turned to the
books Of Biblical lore and studied The
fora of the springtme lin the Holy
Land These writer's have told yol
that in March and April there are flow
crs everywhere about Jerusalem. 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 Magdalcne and Mary, the mother
of James, you think of him with piled
up banks Of roses on every side and
amid great white Gala lilies, as scnti
ncls lifting up their heads to keel
watch. and amid great hosts OF carna