The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1924-04-10

ENM Silence reigned IN Josepns
sgfS9s garden. broken only by the
BNkGllE mailed sentinels who chat
ted and laughed by the
saased sepulcher. We do not know
what the disciples did on the Sabbath
day, Probably they spent the day ~
close retirement IN some upper room.
Their thoughts we're nailed to that
Gross on Calvary, and their spirits
were under the heavy pail Of that uag-
edy Of Good Friday.
We can never understand the utter
uaisarv and dssolRtion Of those hours
between Christ's death and His Resur-
ractaon. Our faith rests On the CEN
turtles, and when we read Of the CRU
canxion we have In mind the glory OF
Raateg morning. But to the Disciples
al Shalr hopes had been shattered, ell
eAsiy plans frustrated. and all their
love buried in Joseph's tomb. A resur-
yectscn ala not enter into their
sheughes es eli, and therefore their
testimony n she more valuable True
they had heard Jesus say that He
wcuid rise again, but they had inter
preted that In a sort Of future ana
syrabolic sense.
Before dawn, the women mentioned
In cur text, perhaps with some others,
started for the sepulcher bearing their
spices and ointments with which they
expected TO finish the embalming Of
the blessed body Of their Lord. A
resurrection had no place In their
thoughts. They came to minister to
kha dead. not to greet the living. Their
enc great concern was: Who would
haip them to roll away the stone wAich
sealed the tomb, and which was too
great for their united strength? AS
they draw near they see that the stone
is rolled away, and SO little did they
think Of a resurrection, that the open
tomb brought them only perplexity and
grief.
The Gospels were not written for the
curious, but for the devout. They are
most silent therefore, where myth and
legend would be most garrulous. Here
we are told nothing Of the wondrous
Resurrection. Did He awake alonef
Or was He attended by the Hierarchy
Of heaven? We are told only what
concerns mankind, viz, the sufficient
manifestation Of Jesus to BIS people
Of His Resurrection.
We can reconstruct something Of the
events of that first Easter morning
from the Gospel accounts. First the
women come and find the tomb empty.
Mary Mngdalene Immediately runs
back TO the city and tells Peter and
John about 1t. They rush out to the
garaAn Of Joseph. John, the younger
man. taking the lead The women
have left. Peter enters the tomb. and
sees the linen clothes which had Gov
cred the body Of Jesus, and there
begins to dawn upon them something
of the meaning Of the words Of Jesus,
son the third day I shall rise again"
Mary comes back and Peter and
John have gone, and no one is there
to explain what has taken place; so
she stands by the sepulcher and pours
cut her distress In tears.
Now comes the first revelation of
the risen Christ. MARY" he says, In
the well-known voice Of love and ten
derness, and In a moment all her sor-
row Is turned into Joy. It Is always
80 when the risen Christ comes into
a life. The living Christ is the worlds
great joy-bringer. Without Him, our
thoughts can only be thoughts of
death. With Him we enter into the
conception Of the larger life, Of which
elsls is only the outer court.
LAfei Death! They seem to be the
very antipodes of thought. We have
come to look upon them as mutually
exclusive, but Jesus has taught us
that out Of life death is to arise.
The Resurrection Of Jesus Is the
anchor Of our Christian faith. We live
In q day when men seek positive
grounds OF thought and action, and the
enduring power Of the Resurrection is
not sentiment but fact. A senti-
ment has its day. Phases of mere
feeling pass rapidly over the genera
lions Of men, like clouds over our
heads, but the fact Of the Risen Christ
remains. In the strength Of that GER
tainty Paul went forth to his great
missionary labors. In the strength of
that. Peter went unafraid to his own
erucihxion. In the strength Of that,
the soldiers Of Christ in all ages have
stood fast la the faith, quit themselves
Ike men, and endured unto the end.
The Easter Gospel is the Gospel Of
ali comfort. "If Christ be not risen
ghen Is our preaching vain, and your
faith Is also vain" So says st. Paul,
and then comes his triumphal shout Of
certainty: 'But now Is Christ risen
from the dead, and become the frst-
fruits Of them that sleptr That 10 the
Gospai Of comfort which this world Of
sorrow and death needs so much. That
rs the glad and glorious Gospel Of
Easter Day. Today we seek, not a
dead Christ, but living one. and then,