Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1911-04-12
CHRISTIAN EAOEAvOR
Prayer Meeting Topic For the week
BEGINNING April 1e, 1911.


Topic.-The spirit of the resurrection
Rom. wi lila Edited by Rev Sherman
H Doyle d. d
The saddest day that this world ever
saw was the day that the body %
Jesus lay in the tomb of Joseph's gar
den. The gladdest day that this worio
ever saw was when the angel OF the
resurrection proclaimed. He is not
here; He is RISEN No man can say
how much that proclamation mas
meant and through all eternity shah
mean to the SHINING and dying sons oil
men. But we know that that hrst Eas-
ter message has answered the deepest
warnings of the human heart. II has
turned, mans night of ignorance ana
uncertainty into the brightness OF the
morning. Ii has emancipated the be-
Bevjne soul from the fear OF death. 1t
has flooded the world with the light of
a new hope and new life.
1. The spirit of the resurrection is
the spirit of joy. II it be true that no
hour is more solemn than that in
which the bodily powers fail. the flnt-
tering pulse ceases to beat, the cold
stiffness settles upon the features so
lately wreathed in smiles; IL there IS
no corruption to be compared with the
corruption of the tomb and no sorrow
with the breaking of the ties of love,
then where shall we look for greater
10Y than TO the message of the angel
who stands by the tomb of our Lord?
In the light of the beautiful Easter
message no longer does death appear
as n terrible calamity. nor does the
man leaving the world enter into
black and silent eternity, But death
appears as an angel from heaven, and
4 the grave is the place where Jesus
giveth his beloved sleep. Dying. man
goes home-home to the Father. Easter
Is the day Of days. No other festival
has so much Joy in its keeping. In our
Scriptural lesson Paul makes the be
lever one with his Lord We may not
understand all the mystery. But we
can enter into the gladness of PauFs
faith when he exclaims, IF we died
with Christ we believe that we shall
also live with Him" Is not any mes
sage which brings such glorious news
a message of joy?
2. The spirit of Easter is also the
spirit of power. We are no longer the
bond slaves of sin and death, for by
His dying and resurrection Christ has
delivered us. The power that raised
Christ from the dead is working in MS.
and it will defy all those forces of the
world, the flesh and the devil which
serve to make good and true life
impossible for us in this sinful world.
We may walk in newness of life il
we yield ourselves to the working Of
this power. 1t is no longer l, but
Christ, that liveth in me. What a
wonderful truth it is, I am weak.
am sinful. am subiert to deafE h,t
Christ is divinely strong. Christ dies
for my sins; Christ overcomes death
on my behalf ,Henceforth not in my
weakness, but in Christ's strength;
not in bondage to sin. but as an in
strument of righteousness unto God:
not as the slave of death. but as pos.
sessing the power of an endless life,
am ! to live my life in this world
May this Easter. with all its messages
of joy and power. lead US to open our
hearts anew to the spirit of Christ
that he may reign supremacy within
US and make our lives His own.