The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-04-05
EASTER AT
ST. PETERS
REV. W. 3. cAPERs breaches A
SCHOLARLY SERMON ON THE
RESURRECTION.

gospel" q Tim. l-l0.)
The Easter services at st. Peters
church were as usual most beautiful.
The pretty church was decorated in
evergreens and Easter lilies. and the
congregation was large. An espec-
Tally beautiful musical program was
grranged, the regular choir being as
sisted by some of the best voices OF
the city.
Rev. w. B. Capers' sermon on the
Resurrection" was most scholarly and
was given deep and earnest attention.
1t was in part as follows:
Nineteen hundred years is a long
time for the perpetuation of an an
nual festival, for the celebration of
zone concentrating an historical
event of even the greatest possible
magnitude The uninterrupted reoc-
.currance Of such a festival for such
a length of time, establishes the claim
aof the institution of Easter to a past
$50 venerable-going back as it does
Through nineteen centuries, as to war
Grant the belief that It's continuance is
sustained by some supernatural in
. PREVENTION or power.
The resurrection of Jesus from the
dead, is the citadel of the chieftain's
faith, while the Church, the Ark of
the Covenont of the living God, In
perpetuating this Easter festival, has
perpetuated an institution SO veneer
able, that in contrast with it the in
situations and governments of men APP |
pear as the creations of yesterday. |
One hundred and fifty years and the
Roman Empire had fallen. The life
time of Alexander the Great was con-
temporary with Macedonia suprem-
acy-within fifteen hundred years
Anglo, Saxon, Norman, Tudor, Stuart,
and Hanoverian, had successfully
seized the sceptre in England, recon-
structed the government and built up
their respective dynasties. With
Ivan "the Terrible" in 1642-the
Russian Empire rose to power and
permanence as a nation, and now af-
ter 265 years with Gear Nicholas ILL.,,
it is tottering to its ruin. Six differ
ent governments have gone to pieces
in France, since her great revolution,
while our own Republic, the greatest
Of all Republics has taken not quite .
a hundred and fifty years to alarm it's
citizens by signs of dissolution and :
weakness And yet today, one thous-
and nine hundred times has Easter
been celebrated, marking as many
years, throughout the wide stretches
If the world, clothed with white robe
# Christian Churches. =
Nor do we see any sign which in ;,
licates that the end of the Church's
ong dominion is approaching. She ;.
aw the commencements of all the
and all the ecclesiastical :
that now exist in the :,
7orld and she is destined to see the
nd Of them ALL"
Before Saxon set foot on British !.
oil, before the Frank had passed the =
.hine, while Greek eloquence still fur =.
ished at Antioch and idols we're
'orshipped in the temple at Mecca" ?.
nristians everywhere were celebrat-
lg on Easter, Jesus Resurrection
ON the dead. And when some trav- pr
lor from parts now remote in the 'l'
orld, shall stand in the midst of ci'
ast solitude and sketch the mighty su
Inns of our present civilizations, the IL
lildren of the Church will be found es
Ill chanting their glad Alleluias to VIZ
e risen Christ
The venerable past then, the splen- Ca
d present and the glorious future Of lie
at religion which rests its claim "
mems devotion and service, upon sui
e great fact of the resurrection, are 10
themselves miraculous and are 'hS
'rthy of the thoughtful considera- cor
n of all men. mo
But the question uppermost in our ape
nds and our hearts today, the i'm mo
'rtality of the soul, did not origi- the
te with Christ, He becoming, how and
er, "the first fruits of them that nur
pit" and by His own RESURRECTION was MAJ
first to bring life and immortality see
light" And this implies that up nor
that great pivotal fact In history, nov
the minds of men, was troi
dowy uncertain. doubtful, and that Is
list brought II to light" in that He ach
de 1t clear, fixed, definite. We know the
the Hebrews before the exile had crea
h in "Sheor'-while Greek phil. tDei
pliers like Plato and Socrates des'
ght vague, indefinite future life. &c o
wever after the exile, we find Job oeh
es us our first conception OF immor- Al
ty with anything like defniteness to r