The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-04-05
SERMON
The sTuIcher ia the G0rdfn.'
By IRVING =. sRAnLEs.

there Was garden ana II tue Barcen d ne"
sepulcher. wherein was never man YET laid
John ~. Al.
Reference is h.Te made to the burial place OF
the Savior The sepulcher in which the body
IA laid is in a garden. Strange place for
sepucher
What Is mere beautiful than tho ideal garden
What more attractive? What more inviting?
There arc well arranged walks. There are
flowers blooming In their fragrance and beauty.
All that Is offensive to cultivated taste is care
fully eliminated.
When Belshazzar would render Babylon es-
peciaIly pleasing tc his royal guests ne erects
the Banging Gardens In connection with
palaces of the old world to-day. are gardens
arranged with tho most exquisite skill. The
wealth and taste of the kingdom are laid under
contribution to renderthese resorts attractive
One. walking through these gardens, feels as Il
he were IN another world than this.
On the other hand. what is more lothesome
or repulslve to the popular mind than the
sepulcherg We like to have flowers IN our
door yard. but who desires grave there ?
Good taste allows q garden near our dwelling
but places the grave yard at distance from
our village
The popular idss OF death is expressed by
the poet
How frightful the grave how deserted and
drear.
With the hcvlsos the storm wind. the c-eaks
of the beir
And the white bones all Gathering together
There riots the blood crested worm on the dead.
Aud the yeo@sskull serves the foul toad for
bed
Aud snakes II the nettle weeds hiss
The ravens of night flap their wings er the
grave
Tis the vultures abode; lis the wolfe dreary
cave
Where they tear up the dead with their fangs :,
Such Is the popular idea of the grave. We
welcome flowers but shun the sepuichsr
Using the term garden as typical OF our
worldly 'hepss, and sepucher as q type OF the
'burqal-rlsce OF these hopes we may find
some suggestions worthy OF our consideration.
First, then. | remark, that every one has
his garden In your day dreams you picture
c0odltlcn Of unalloyed bliss in your life.
somewhere in the future you see your garden
Astounding in flowers or rare beauty and
fragrence
a Bat secondly, in every one Of these gar
dsns there is a sepulcher There was sepul-
H.. =.
and there Is one in all these gardens Of yours
Is wealth your garden Riches may take to
themselves wings and fly away Is friendship
your garden? The NEST sacred ties may be
severed and leave you broken hsarted
How many have made this garden Of honor
and power only to find therein sepuleher
or Napoleon two suggestive statues may be
seen. One is at Paris. Here il Napoleon. the
itts. The great Frenchman is now IN the zenith
OF his power. The Gathering Of that horses
hoofs sends terror into all the royal palaces OF
Europe. The other statue is at St Helena.
Here the once proud general is humbled IN
theGust HIS crown is gone. Hope has died
out IN his soul. The face. once flushed with
victory, Is pale and emaciated The eyes that
once spanked with lofty ambition have lost
their tustre. In the garden is found the
sepulchsr. For every Austerlitz there is
Waterloo
Who welded more OF the worlds power than
did Nero. He could cover the christian with
tar, set fire to them and place them in the
streets Of Rome at night TO illuminate the i'm
peral city. For time no one dared question
his authority But there came change in
governmental affairs. Nero is driven from the
throne The senate sentence him to be beaten
to death and dragged by the heels Though the
streets OF Rene and thrown into the Tiber
Hearing of this decree he escapes. to house
short distance from the city. He hears the
horsemen in pursuit, and IL dispair draws
dagger and sabe himself. The garden OF Nero
once abounded in flowers, but after'a time the
sepucher appeazed
Travellers across the Desert tell US of
strange sight that isisometimes witnessed there
Weary nd almost dead with thirst they espy
IN the distance a large beautiful lake. They
hurry forward to stake their thirst. They even
inquire how they cen cross that large body of
water But as they advance the lake grows
smai'r I'd smaller until it disappears alto
gether. This is the mirage. 1t IS a deception
an optical illusion. There was not drop OF
water there. Now, al the pictures of happi-
ness in this lite are as the mirage in the desert
We rush towards them, weary and respondent
only to find that we are deceived.
Ia your garden place choicest flowers: careful
~ remove all that is unpleasant. ana yet you
will find that you have left there a sepulcher
This sepulcher may be hidden from the
world Pride may compel you 10 keep your
trouble 10 yourself. You may tel no one of
the sspulcher, The world looks over into your
garden aud says. " How beautiful. What an
absence OF ali that annoys! How happy the
owner OF that garden must be :" Ah but they
may be greatly deceived
History speaks Of Ottacas who was asked to
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