Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-05-11


. band. Then followed the address Of Rel
If DIR. Young, as follows:
g address OF REV. YOUNG
He said / arise merely to close thes
services We have this day consecrated
resting place for the Confederate dead
whose patriotism and courage have rem
, dered their names illustrious forever.
All the elements have been made recep
tacles for the dead. Some savage tribe.
suspend their dead in the atmosphere
Old mariners and lonely islanders have
bequeathed their bodies to the ocean, to
: await the hour when ''the sea shall give up
Its dead" Some of The cultivated and pow
erfui Ia'ions Of pagan antiquity burned
their dead. All nations possessing a
knowledge of the only true and living
God, have buried their dead, either by en-
tombment or interment "Dust thou art,
and unto dust shalt thou .eturn." The
Christian ladies Of the Memorial Society
OF Tenne sees propose to gather the bodies
Of all the Confederate dead sleeping in
the neighborhooi of Nashville, and bury
them in this beautiful and lonely spot, 20
await the resurrection of the last day.
The first people that paid much atien-
ion TO the bodies Of their departed friends
were the Egyptians. When an Egyptian
died, his body was kept from forty to sew
'enty days and carefully embalmed. After
this it was entombed, perhaps in a pyra-
mid. The Hebrews buried their dead 10 a
cave, or in an artificial imitation of one.
An Grafton was delivered at the sepulchre,
and q prayer offered, after which they
turned the face of the deceased toward
heaven, and said Ego in peace I" From
the burial of Sarah in the cave of Mach
pelah 10 the. Funeral rites of Doreas, | be-
lieve there is no mention Of any sarcOpha-
gns, or even coffin, in any Jewish burial.
In the primitive ages the Greeks repOsed
their dead within the temples or precincs
Of the temples. They placed a piece of
money in the mouth of the departed, TO pay
his fare across the internal river. In later
times they inferred their dead without
the cities, generally by the Wayside. The
| Romans kept the body of the deceased
seven days, and washed il in warm water
| and oil every day, that it might be re-
| viVed il possible. 1t was then enbalmed and
| dressed, carried 10 the funeral pile and
burned. The ashes were gathered in an
1 urn and buried. The ancient Christians,
like the modern, buried the body entire
! under the ground, earth 10 earth, dust TO
dust" On the way TO the grave they en-
plOyed themselves in singing psalms and
hymns to God. Music, prayer, psalmOdy,
OratOry and flowers, all combine in the
beautiful and solemn services of this dedi-
cation of a cemetery for Christian heroes,
Our sinless Saviour was apprehended,
'crueifed, dead and buried" The tomb OF
Jesus was closed and sealed. A Roman
band was set TO guard the SAUNDERS of him |
whom angels watched with eyes that never !
sleep. Night settles on Jerusalem. The
Sabbath follows, while the God Of redemp- |
ton rests upon the field of his conflict, as /
of old the God Of creation held Sabbath |
when his work was done. Another night /
has passed, and the Lord Of life aWakes |
lie rises from his couch of state. He /
stands erect 10 the darkness and solitude /
of that hall Of death. Ministering spirits
enter, disrobe his animated formOf the gar
ments of the grave, clothe him afresh, and
the risen Redeemer walks forth a living
God.
"NoW in Christ risen from the dead /
and become the first fruits Of them that
slept" Because live, ye shall live
also" The resurrection Of Christ is
pledge of the resurrection of all these dead i
heroes As we then stand, in Imagination /
around the sepulcher OF Christ, TO be wit
nesses by faith of his resurrection, we also /
behold the emblem Of that great uprising |
when all these, wLo believed in Jesus,
shall be raised in his image and be glori- /
fed with him Ia his fathers kingdom.
81 am the resurrection and the life. lie |
that believeth in me, though he were dead,
We. shall he live" SO when the believer
himself lies down to die, or when he con-
signs to the lonely tomb the form Of those
he loves, in the assurance of Christ, and /
the fact that he rose from the dead to give |
life to them who sleep, he beholds by JOY
full faith the predicted time when those
that sleep in dust shall awake in glory,
when the earth shall render back its /
trust, the very ground on which We now
tread shall live, and from every kingdom
and people under Heaven, from the "Sun-
ny South" and the icy North, from the
islands and the hill-tops, the race Of man,
over whose silent sleep the night of ten
thousand ages may have hung, shall start
at the trumpefs sound and rush into i'm
mortal life.
When the great Archangel shakes creation,
Tears the strong pillars of the vault Of Heaven.
Breaks up cid marble. the repose of princes"
then bone 10 its bone, the scattered frag- |
ments of buried world, the generations Of
a thousand centuries spring 10 their own,
and "Ihey that have done good are caught
up with the Lord into the air; "and 70
shall they be ever with the Lord"
Our risen Lord assembled TO Heaven.
Having appeared to his followers eleven
times after his resurrection, he leads his
disciples out to the eastern slope of the |
Mount of Olives 10 the yillsge Of Bethany,
a spot that he loved. and then lifting up
his hands he blessed them, aud while he
blessed them he was parted from them and
carried up into Heaven. But 10 these
startled disciples this parting was one of
unniingled pain. Their present bereaYe-
ment, not their future joy, was the
overpoWering thought OF that strange
Eour. Their loss they saw, not
heavens gain, not their own in the COM
ing glory of the Church and of Christ
They saw their Master slowly ascending
the God revealed in his ethereal form
when suddenly the truth flashed oh their
bewildered minds, that the Son Is on the
wing for his Fathers house. He speaks |
not, but lowering over them as they turn
upward their mournful eyes and speechless
gaze upod their rising Lord. He smiles
the last sdieu, and a cloud more
lustrous than the rainbow about the
throne receives the King Of Glory on its
bosom, and floats away into the deep blue
sky. And now the Redeemer has gone,
what mean those strains of triumphant
song that roll along the skies? Ii is a
Jubilee in Heaven. Onward, upward rides
the conqnerOr, with glory flaming from
his burning wheels. Attendant angels
scatter crowns more radiant than the stars
in his ascending path. Worlds that never
heard the story Of redeeIning love stand
still to see the victorious pageant on its
shining way.
But why do / dwell 80 long on the as
censiOR ofChrist? Because il Is pledge |
and>a pattern Of our own ascension-Ofi
the ascension Of every Christian who
sleeps among these Confederate dead.
The angel said to the disciples: aye men
of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into
Heaven? This same Jesus, which is |
taken up from you into Heaven, shall 40
come 10 like manner az ye have seen him
! 90 into Heaven" st. John says to every |
Christian: beloved, now are We the sons |
of God, and it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but that, when he shall sp-
pear, we shall be like him; for We shall |
see him as he Is"
FAREWELL A long farewell, to those |
quiet sleepers Their banners are furled. |
| their cause is lost. As Christ ascended
| from the Mount Of Olives, 90 may they
| ascend from Mount Ohyet Cemetery.