The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-04-20
EASTER BRINGS
JOYFUL MESSAGE
Continued From Page One)

Christ entered the world as our
prophet, priest and king. He came to
destroy the works of the devil which are
delusion, sin and death. AS prophet
He destroys the delusions of the devil
by giving to us the truth of God. As
priest, He destroys sin by making an
atonement He cancelled the debt by
paying it. AS king, He conquers death
and rides triumphant into life. He
holds the keys of life and death. open
ing where none shuts and shutting
where none opens" This is the pre-
rogative of princes. At the coming of
Christ, the sea shall give up its dead |:
the graves shall open and deliver their
trust.
In the presence of. man deluded by
the theories, false PHILOSOPHERS, specula-
tions and mechanism, of the human
brain. what should ! do if l could not
point him to the gospel, that system of
life and conduct against which no man
can find flaw since its actual expert.
ence is its highest evidence? In the
presence of an old sinner yictimized by
a bad heredity and an unfavorable en-
viornment, mastered by self, dominated
by sin, powerless and hopeless, what
should I do if I could not point him to
new birth: fresh start, fair chance
to win! In the presence of a broken
hearted widow at the coffin of her only
son, what should | do if | could not
point to conquered grave, resurrec-
ton morn and Immortality? In life
and death Christ is our hope. DIR. Viii
bur Chapman during his evangelistic
tour in western Australia gives this in
teresting and touching case. Near the
place of his meetings lived a young
farmer who had entered upon his career
prosperous and happy, but he was strick-
ed down with paralysis. Under this ter
rible affliction- he could move only one
finger and his eyes. He communicated
with his family by using a little tin
plate containing the alphabet which
with his one finger he arranged into
words. The mother, recognizing that
he was approaching death. whispered
these words into his ear, Edward, your
mothers heart is breaking. Is Jesus
near you? Are you afraid"' With his
vital finger, he moved the letters into
this sentence. II am not afraid. He is
by my side" He CLOSED his eyes and
stopped away. His mother, turning her
faith and eyes to this glad Easter day,
said Christ is risen and my son shall
rise" This is the faith and hope that
| light every chamber of death, that take
the horror out of the falling clods upon
the casket and reconcile the broken
hearted in earth's bitterest farewell.
This faith and hope create the sunbeam
that rests on the five million white
crosses down the pocketed fields of
western Europe and drives the shadow
from every country graveyard, city
cemetery and marble vault. This faith
and hope give to sorrows desolate win
ter the spring time of joy. Every leaf.
ing shrub and opening flower, every
chirping birding from it's broken shell,
all nature springing into joyous life and
beauty illustrate and corroborate these
comforting words-"I am the resnrrec-
ton and the life. He that believeth in
Me though he were dead, yet shall he
live"
| On this epochal resurrection morn a
| new sentence was announced, sentence
which reverses the inscription on the
tombs of all the ages. "Since Cain and
Seth, back in the worlds first dawn, in
strange inexplicable fear and the first
amaze of death. buried their father and
ours, Adam, the man who should have
been immortal, who had right to eat
or the tree of life, but sinned and died
since that first grave men. have in
unanimity. been gathered to their ia
theirs. Tombs ever increasing, and in
every tomb ,ithe dead. In every cline,
in every zone, the dead are permanent,
unchShging tenants of their narrow
houses! In Nara tombs, the fine dust
of myth-clouded emperors, the gods OF
old Japan. In Ceylon, Buddha's heart
wastes in its jeweled urn By the Nile
pitch-swarthed Pharaohs lie in imper-
ishable sleep. Above Cuzco the sun
worshippers rest on their mountain top
as centuries pass. The dead are there
Only inv Joseph's garden a tomb is
empty, and an angel saying, He is not
here!"
Through this open grave of Christ
comes a flood of light from, the ofhar