"Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid." Mark 15:47
It was a loving watch — but a hopeless one, which those devoted women kept. No stars shone through their cypress trees that afternoon. To their faith, their Christ was lost; because their faith had taken in only an earthly idea of Messiahship. Death was the end of all the hope they had yet learned to cherish.
It surely was a dark hour for the disciples, when that Friday's sun sank in the west. Satan seemed to have conquered and utterly to have destroyed the good seed of life, which God had sent down from Heaven.
A Persian fable says that the earth was created a great barren plain, without tree or plant. An angel was sent to scatter the choicest seeds on every spot. Satan, seeing the seeds on the ground, supposed that the sowing of the seeds was God's work, and determined to destroy it. So he buried all the seeds in the soil, and summoned sun and rain to make them rot away. But while with malignant feeling of triumph, he smiled on the ruin which he had wrought — the seeds which had been buried away to rot — germinated and sprang up, clothing all the earth with plants and flowers, and in beauty undreamed of before. And a voice said from Heaven, "You fool, that which you sow is not quickened, unless it dies."
The application is obvious. The burial of Christ was thought by His enemies to be the end; but in truth this was the very way to the glory of Christ. He Himself had said, "Except a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies — it abides alone; but if it dies — it brings forth much fruit." Christ's burial in the grave, was but the necessary way to His final and glorious victory. So now, when we lay our beloved Christian dead in the tomb — it is in the assured hope of blessed resurrection. The grave is but the shaded way to glory.
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J.R. Miller (1840 - 1912)
Prolific author and pastor of Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois, Rev. James Russell Miller served the USCC as a field agent in the Army of the Potomac and Army of the Cumberland.J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia. J.R. Miller D.D.'s lasting fame is through his over 50 books. Many are still in publication.
James Russell Miller (March 20, 1840 - July 2, 1912) was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois.
In 1857, James entered Beaver Academy and in 1862 he progressed to Westminster College, Pennsylvania, which he graduated in June, 1862. Then in the autumn of that year he entered the theological seminary of the United Presbyterian Church at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Mr. Miller resumed his interrupted studies at the Allegheny Theological Seminary in the fall of 1865 and completed them in the spring of 1867. That summer he accepted a call from the First United Presbyterian Church of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. He was ordained and installed on September 11, 1867.
J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia.
Five years later, in 1880, Dr. Miller became assistant to the Editorial Secretary at the The Presbyterian Board of Publication, also in Philadelphia.