Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-04-18

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sent for him whose word had brough
such comfort aforetime and when NJ
comes and Martha talks with him she
hears him say, THY brother shall rise
again And Martha believing in i'm
mortality said, L know that he VII
rise again at the last day And
Jesus reply to her was, I am the
resurrection and the life Some OF lie
might say with Martha, I know that
he will rise the last day. For with
some today the idea of the resurrec.
ton is but little better than the old
dream Of continuous life which was
possessed by some of the ancient
world. But Jesus words to Martha
put the idea of the immortal life into
Ia different place entirely.
Some people always go down TO the
empty tomb to find the resurrection.
Jesus says he is the resurrection.
i Some folks want the immortal life af-
tier this life. Jesus says he Is the i'm
! mortal life now. It is not down at the
tomb, 1t is not on that far-off Easter
morning that Immortality is first
brought to light. When he went
through the streets of their cities and
touching the eyes of the blind made
! them see; when he put his finger to
the ears of the deaf and made them to
| hear voices Of love and things of God;
when his garments brought healing TO
! the diseased; when he touched the
shrinking and withered limbs Of the
cripple and all became new and strong
again, he was the resurrection, he
was the life, the eternal life, before
the grave had laid hold of him and its
! poyulr hoop mt nff from him
| christ's Death Victory.
! "This is the great note in the Easter
time. Jesus was the power of the re-
surrection' before he went into the
grave Hate had done it's very worst;
! the night had marshalled all It's forces
of bitterness; there was not sword,
nor spear, nor a javelin in hell which
had not been pressed into service
against him who was walking among
men teaching them the eternal char
acter Of life that they were living in.
There was not baseness of life;
there was not low form of animos.
ity against the righteous rule Of God;
there was not perfidy of the human
heart which did not bring itself to
bear against him land when indiffer-
ence thrust it's spear into that CULVER
when water and blood gushed forth
all that the world could do had been
done and Juses was laid in the grave
from their standpoint defeated man.
At least we sometimes think that
these forces which we personify
thought of him as defeated. But
rather incline to the opinion that they
knew they were defeated. For they
knew him as possessing before the
grave the immortal life, the resurrec-
ton, because he was the power Of the
love of God exhibited to world. And
so when we come to this Easter morn
ing this is the central idea of it, many
other great and splendid things are
to be said of it but this is the nucleus
about which they all gather, namely,
that Jesus was the resurrection before
the grave had shut its gate of night
upon him and before the doors of the
morning had opened for him.
This word cheers us when the
winds of sorrow sob and moan through
the lonely chambers of the soul. 1t
emphasizes the continuous nature OF
the life which man lives. We want
to know whether our brother, our
friend, our loved ones shall live again.
Standing before that question Is Jesus
declaring that every one believing in
him shall never die but that the power
of the resurrection life has already en-
tered the earth and that every one |
living his life possesses that immortal
career within himself. Jesus puts the
ictus of his teaching on this truth,
that having God here is an assurance
that he shall have God in the years to |
come.
Proof Of the Immortal Life.
This is the way in which Easter IS
to be understood. 1t is the doctrine OF
an eternal life which is lived here,
whose beginnings are being worked
out in the problems of conduct and So
cial relationship here and now but
whose far.off interest is to be gath
cred in days that lie far ahead. It Is a
time of the worlds JOY. Today all the
organs of the world are telling in
swelling harmonies the Joy which can
be only imperfectly felt as world
comes to wait and worship at the
throne of an eternal love.
"This immortal belief is that which |
justifies and establishes immortal serv-
Ice, When Christ conducted his work
the ancient would was both rich and |
wicked. Power expressed itself in |
terms Of cruelty. Love spoke but I
broken language. Swords flashed in
the hands Of men; Roman galleys hur-
ried over the tapping waters Of the
Mediterranean and where they went
there was not much Of the gentleness
of the heart taught, not much Of the
spirit of him who was Lord of life OBJ.
tanned. Then came his death and the
dispersal of his disciples;
then came later Paul, who, with
Christ, holds Christian thought today; /
then later and down to the present
time that great group, numbering an
army, which has gone forth speaking
in terms Of the Christ, enacting laws
and developing governments. lifting So
ciety and giving to the heart Of society
such ideals of life as were struck out
Of the flaming heart of the master who
loved men so in such distant day and
who continues to love them in this
day. And as they, the men and
of his teachings, have gone, the
earth has been changed. II you ask for
proof of the immortal life point you to
- ricfion orooo ne