The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-04-08

was an extraordinary decoration of flow
ers. The platform and the galleries
we're very beautifully decorated. Fol-
lowing is a full report of the sermon:
fUBJEcr-"THE EMPTY sEPULCHER"
Text-John l9:4l "In the Garden, a
new sepulcher."
When l look around on this platform
and this great, extensive and varied dis
play of flowers, 30 beautifully designed,
feel as if l stood in a small heaven.
You say, "These flowers will fade and
die" Yes but l sometimes think we
will see them again. They may be i'm
mortal. The fragrance Of the flower
may be the spirit Of the flOwer-the
body of the flower dying here, its spirit
of fragrance may appear in better
world. The ancestors of these tube ro-
ses and japonicas and jasmines were
born in Paradise. These apostles of
beauty have come down in regular line
OF apostolic succession. During the for.
ty days of the food their ancestors lay
under ground and afterwards reappear'
ed. The world began with Eden and
will end with Eden. Heaven is called
the Paradise of God, and Paradise means
flowers. Theological geniuses are blot.
ting everything material out of heaven.
Everything in the future country to them
is intangible, and they are to go floating
around somewhere between the Great
Bear and Dipper. But | hope to pick
up daisy on one of the eternal hills
Of heaven and hear it say, II am one of
the glorfed flowers of earth. Do you
not remember meP Why, worshipped
with you on Easter morning of 1892"
My text invites us into garden. 1t
is manor in the suburbs Of Jerusalem,
belonging to a wealthy gentleman nam
ed Joseph. He had belonged to the
Court of Seventy that had condemned
Christ, but he had voted in the negative,
or, being timd man, had absented him.
self when the vote was taken. He had
laid out this park at great cost. The eli
mate hot, no doubt there were plenty of
trees, broad branched, and paths winding
under them, and waters dropping over
rocks into fish-pools. Flowers and mos.
Bes and vines fame on the walls, and
here are all the wonders of kiosk and
arborculture. After the exhaustive la.
Dor in the Jerusalem Courtroom, it must
have been delightful for Joseph to get
into this suburban retreat, botanical and
pomologiCal. As we are walking through
the garden we Corae to some rocks that
have had the Chisel of Workmen upon
them. Step little closer and you find
subterraneous recess. Go down the
steps and over the entrance, behold an
arChitrave, sCulptured with fruits aud
vines. You step inside, and 10 the por.
tiCo of marble ont of which open four ar
five or six rooms of roCR In the wall
of each room, inches, each one large
enough for a dead body. Here is
room upon which has put great arChitec
tural attention. The fact is, that Joseph
knows that he cannot always walk these
garden paths, aud he has provided a
place for his last slumber. What beau.
tifll spot in which to watch the 6nal
grave-breaking! But examine this spot
we'll, for 1t is to be the most celebrated
tomb of all the ages compared with
which the CstaComDs Of Egypt are moth
ing, Napoleon's tomb nothing, Mabel
Tai, in India, are nothing. Christ has
just been murdered, and his body will
be thrown to the dogs and crows, like
other cruCiied bodies, unless there be
prompt and effective hlnderanCe. Jo-
seph, the wealthy owner of this mauso-
leum of the text gets permission to take |
the dead body. He washes the poor |
mutiated form from the dust and blood, |
shrouds it and perfumes it. Emhalm |
ment was probably omitted. When
body in olden time was to be embalmed, |
priest with some medical knowledge |
showed the operator at what point be-
tween the ribs the incision must be |
made, and the operator, having made |
Llb luClblOu, Idu lOI uAb lllO lCbb lG DC |
slain for violating tho dead Then other
priests came, and with salt of inter, cas-
sia and wine of the palm tree, completed |
the work.
But such attentions to the deceased |
Christ would have made another riot, |
and 30 the funeral goes on. Present, as
far as l can tell. only Joseph, the owner
of the grave; NiCodemus, another veal
thy man, who provides the spices, and |
the two Marys. No plumes! No organ |
dirgel No catafalque! Heavy burden of
the two menI They slowly carry him
down the marble steps, and through the
portico, and, lifting the dead weight to
the level OF the niche in the wall, they |
push the weary body Of Christ into the
only good resting place it ever had. A
door of stone is put against the recess.
The Government, fearing that the disCi- !
pies might at night take away the body
and play resurrection, ordered the seal
of the Sanhedrim to be stamped on the
door, and the breaking Of that seal, like
the violation OF the seal of the United
States or Great Britain, would be follow
cd with severe punishment. A company
VI lAOuA bA-O bOWpI VI hhGOhlh 10
detailed to stand guard, But at the door
Of that mausoeum fight takes place,
which decides question for all grave
yards and cemeteries Sword Of light
ming against sword Of steel! Angel
against military No seal Of letter was
more easily broken than that seal Of the
Sanhedrim. The body that was showed
into the niche in the wall of the rock be-
gins to stir in the shroud of fine linen,
and slides down upon the marble pave.
ment and walks out into the portico, and
appears in the doorway, and advances
into the open air, and goes up the steps.
His mortuary attire left behind him, he
comes out in a wOrkman's garb, so that
the women took him for q gardener.
That day the grave got such terrible
Shattering that it can never be mended.