Milford chronicle., 1907-03-29
CalnaQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talrnase, D. D.

Los Angeles, Cal, March 24.-AD
Rropriate to the Easter season is thi,
sermon, in which from the emnt,
crosses and from the empty tomb the
preacher hears voices of warning. ioy
and triumph. The text is Mark xv
q, "And with him they cruelty two
thieves, the one on his right hand and
the other on his left"
In my lifetime l have seen many
pictures symbolic of the first Easter
morn. Some of them have depicted
Jesus in the garden walking among the
lilies talking with Mary. Some OF
them have pictured Christ stepping out
Of the tomb amid the PROSTATE forms
Of the Roman soldiers. Some of them
have pictured Peter and John looking
into the empty crypt, where was moth
Ing but the shroud of the risen Lord.
But Of all Easter pictures the one
which impressed me the most was that
which used to hang upon the walls of
my boyhOOd home. In the foreground
of the picture was a broad winged an-
gel flying. He was a divine messenger
bringing to earth the glad tidings of
the resurrected Christ. To the right Of
the picture was the rising sun rim
ming the eastern hills. And as this
sun was crawling over the eastern
hills It cast its light upon six pieces Of
wood which had been formed into
three crosses. There stood these three
crosses emptied of their human bur
dens. The horrors of the crucifxion
were over. The corpses Of the two
thieves and of the dead Christ had
been quietly laid away in their graves.
The DEGREES of the Roman law had
been carried out. No Jesus was there.
No repentant dying thief was there.
No blaspheming murderer was there. !
Only the three silent crosses were
there. They were mute signs that the |
horrors of the blackest of all Fridays !
had forever passed away. There stood |
the three empty crosses bathed in the |
glory of the rising sun of the first Eas-
ter morn.
Let us, in the first place, turn our at
tention to the central cross, upon which
Jesus died. Why was this cross left
standing amid the glories and the trl-
umphs of Easter day? Why was 1t al
lowed to stand there to cast its dark
shadow over the beautiful form of a
risen Christ? I think God left it stand
ing there for a purpose. He Is coming
to you and me today to say: ooh, child,
amid the songs of rejoicing which you
are singing at this Easter season,
amid the beautiful flowers with which
you are decorating your churches,
amid sermons of triumph with which
you are celebrating your sacred festal
day, you must not forget the price
Jesus Christ paid for your redemption!
Let the smile. be on the lip, let joy
come yelling UP out of the heart as
the bubbling brook bursts out of the
green moss upon the mountain side.
but let the empty cross upon which
Jesus died always stand near to re-
mind you Of the agony and the suffer-
ings and the crown of thorns with
which Jesus purchased your sal|a-
ton" The cross-oh, the empty cross
Of the first Easter morn! Who would
want to pull it down from GolgOtha on
the morn Jesus was resurrected? Who |
would want to obliterate all the men,
Dry of the suffering Of the atonement
with which Christ obliterated our sins?
The cross-oh. the cross. the empty
cross Of Jesus Christ, changed into
great beams of gold by the Easter SUM-
Oh, let it stand in the center Of every
picture which symbolizes the joy and
the gospel triumph of Easter morn!
The Empty Cross.
But this empty cross of Jesus Christ
teaches us another Easter lesson. 1t is
a reminder of the glorious fact that,
though for a little while the scepter Of
sin may seem to have the wsrld for its
kingdom. vet in the end eternal right
shall surely triumph. 1t implies the
promise that. Though for a little while
Christ may be put upon the cross and
hidden away in the tomb, yet there
will surely come day when he shall
step out Of his tomb and all his enc
mics shall be scattered, even as the
Easter ulOIu CluoC6 away NAAS AeAA AAAS99 I
Of the midnight.
An Old Legend. Z
MANY centuries ago there was a great 7
Of the forces Of nature, and !
tbev said: LET us build a tower of '
Rabel. Let us erect a huge fortress of /
rock which shall be forever a monu- t
nent to our strength" So the earth I
makes said: 1--WE will writhe and G
twist this old earth all out Of shape. &
We will throw the rocks aslant, and /
we will pile them one upon the other" .
rben the fervent heat said, Il will ,
;trilxe this old earth and make it shrlv-
j mn like a dried orange" Then the
-olcanoes said: "Out Of the center of
he earth we will vomit up great noun :
aims of lava. We will build a huge
range of rocks that the fires =
,annot burn and the eternlties cannot
eyel" So these forces Of nature went =
49,, h4rrra mountain II