The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-07-24
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. WILLIAM J. THOMPSON.
Subject: The Ascension.

Concerning the crucifixicn the
! Scripture gives month. day, hour,
| articipants-much minutiae. Con-
;erning the resurrection no mention
| IS made of the first heartbeat, only
! The fact Of the empty tomb and the
risen Saviour. Still meagre is the
! account of the ascension.
The length of these narratives in
iicates our limited knowledge. Death
so common would have fullest nell
! ton. The resurrection, contrary to
| all experience, would admit simply
| The fact supported by ''infallible
signs" The ascension, contrary to
the one law we believe to prevail
| throughout the universe-gTavitatio
and the entrances into the spirit
realm which battles the imagination
of embodied spirits, would call for
the least mention.
| Their Importance, however, is in
versely as the length of the nara.
i've. Death IL itself is failure, the
I resurrection declares Jesus to be the
| Son of God with power. The ascen-
sion to the right hand of God pro-
claims Him the ever-reignipg SUI
| preme sovereign.
The eagle-winged tyrant, death,
| spreads over tne whole earth. pals
| Gods last AND best creation in his
tnsatiaDle conquest; wrencnes from
The human soul the organ of all it's
| intelligent and spiritual expressions
the body, and dooms it with "dust
| to dust Jesus Christ, the mighty
Prince of Life, conquered this
,onqueror!
Our loudest Easter hosannss are
| to His praise for this unriTaled
achievement This triumph, how
| ever. mighty as it is. is but a part
| If His life. Like the figures of arith-
! metic. depending for their richness
On what follows, sc the glories of
| Easter depend on what follows in the
life of Christ.
Napoleon BonaDarte used Maren-
go, Austerlitz and other victories as
| stepping stones to reach the dizzy
heights of military power; where ne
| swared the sceptre from the Baltic
| to Southern Italy, and allied contig-
/ rous nations ss vassals Or dependent
states. He stood with his armies
Upon the Alps and exclaimed: "Han
| 1iDal is surpassed" He led these
soldiers beneath the pyramids with
Forty centuries look down upon
| Fou." France saluted him with:
Sire, your greatness is like that of
he universe" If Napoleon had died
before June Is, 1915, glamor of
glory would have encircled his whole
career. But his life after this, with
| he defeat of Waterloo and five and
; >ne-half years in exile, leveled the
summit of his greatness.
We are not without concern for
Dur ex-presidents, lest some Ill deed
initiate against their record in the
nigh Office. Some grains of comfort
ire extracted from our three mar
tyred presidents, all of whom were
snatched from US in the zenith of
their fame, a fact which shed glory
over their whole lives. Jesus Christ
iisarmed death of its mortal sting
and led the powers of darkness cap
i've. Yet some subsequent event
could detract from the glory of this
high triumph. So the setting of
Christ in our faith hinges upon what
! follows His death and resurrection.
II Jesus had remained in Jerusa.
lem. as His disciples hoped for. yes.
sells from the four ends of Christen.
| 1om would have congested the ports
| nearest that city with Populations to
tor, thereby weakening their faith
ard enervating them in working out
their own salvation The most stall
wart fibre in Christian manhood
comes from largest faith and zeal in
self-culture, and this could not be
favorably produced everywhere with
Jesus localized. Men everywhere
should have equal divine assistance
in having right hearts, speaking &C
:eptable words, and doing justly. To
This end Jesus must be spiritually
present in the world and consequent
" bodily withdraw. While the lus-
ire of Jesus would have shone un-
diminished had He remained on
earth, yet to reach His maximum
sfulgence it was expedient that He
go away. Mans complete salvation
and the glory of Christ concurred in
this departure. Our faith is vitality
involved in His destination.
His departure. The farewell ad-
dress of George Washington was i'm
portant in his estimation as we'll as
in that of his soldiers and posteritv.
A farewell address would be valu-
able and fitting for all our presidents
tc close their administration. Or
farewells are the utterances of our
best selves. This is foreshadowed
by its typical formulas. "Fare-ye.
we'll" God be with you," abbrevi.
ated to "Good-by." The farewell OF
Jesus has the same relative impor.
lance. He takes leave of the world
that clamored for His blood and had
glee over its shedding. Mark you.
He lifted up His hands and blessed
them" Thus His valedictory is in
the same exalted level as all that pre-.
cedes and our faith holds high in the
risen and departed Christ.
He departs not in darkness but in
the light of day; not in the valley
but from Olivet's top; not alone but
in the view of His disciples. He had
| withdrawn many times before, this
time He ascends while He blessed
them, He was parted from them and
carried up into heaven" Shortly
after Stephen, the first martyr, looked
up and said: Behold, see the heav.
ems opened and the Son of Man at
the right hand of God" Some time
after Paul had vision of Jesus In
heaven: likewise did John. Satan,
the defiler, was hurled headlong from.
heaven. Nothing that defileth en-.
tereth therein. Elijah. pattern Of
piety, whose mantle holy men covet-
ID, the chariot of the Lord carried
thither, and Enoch, who walked with
God, was taken there. Jesus ascend
ed to heaven, the abode of the good
for all ages.
Furthermore. the whole company
of prophets, sages, kings and mighty
men Of God, are in that great COM
pany whose number no man can num-
Der. yet Christ sits at the right hand
with name above every name and
all powers and principalities at His
feet. This exaltation - His through
all time-enriche all His past, makes
the land on which He lived to us
holy, His precepts priceless and gives
the largest satisfaction and fullest
fruition to our faith.
The ascension of Christ pays honor
to the body. The third article of our
religion is Christ did truly rise
again from the dead and took again
His BODY, with all things appertain-
ing to the perfection of mans ma
tire wherewjth He assembled into