Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-05-05
Tabernacle Sermon.
ssEAsTERTIDE''-AD DISCOURSE BY DIR. TAIL
MAGE.
BROOKLYN, N. Y. April 25..

| BROOKLYN, N. Y, April %.
The Brooklyn Tabernacle was elaborate
ly decorated to-day, both in platform ana
galleries. Within the church scene OF
rare beauty was presented, the platform be-
ing covered with flowers arranged in yari-
Gus devices and breathing forth a delicate
aroma. The building was so crowded that
the doors were held open by the pressure,
and many persons were turned away, being
unable to get farther than the iron gates Oh
| the street. In addition to the usual artistes
of the church, Mrs. Florence Rice-Knox
sang twice. The opening hymn, in which
six thousand voices joined, was:-
We praise Thee, God. for the son of Thy
Love,
For Jesus who died and is now gone above"
The subject of the sermon was ssEs ster,
tide" DR.. Talmage took his text from l.
Cor, XIV, 20: "Now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of
them that slept" He spoke as follows
On this glorious Easter morning, amid
the music and the flowers, give you Chris
1 tian salutation. This morning Russian
I meeting Russian on the streets of st. Pc
tersburg halls him with the salutation,
| "Christ is risen," and is answered by his
| friend in salutation, ''He is risen, indeed. %
4
this very day there is the superstition that
| on Easter morning the sun dances in the
| heavens; and well may we forgive such a
superstition, which illustrates the fact that
| the natural world seems to sympathize with
| the spiritual.
Hail Easter morning.. Flowers! Flow
ers! All OF them a voice, all of them a
! tongue, all of them full of speech to day.
bend over one of the lilies and ! hear it say 3:
s'Consder. the lilies of the field, how they
grow; they toll not, neither do they spin,
| yet Solomon in all his glory was not array
ed as one of these" I bend over a rose
| and it seems to whisper: 81 am the rose of
Sharon" And then I stand and listen
From all sides there comes the chorus of
flowers saying: eff God so clothes the
grass of the field, which to-day is, and TO-
| morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not
! much more clothe you, o ye of little faith?"
Flowers! Flowers! Braid them into the
brides hair. Flowers! Flowers! Strew
them over the graves of the dead, sweet
prophecy of the resurrection Flowers!
Flowers Twist them into garland for
my Lord Jesus on Easter morning. "Glo
ry be to the Father and to the Son and to
the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be-
Why, if rainbow this morning had fall
en- and struck the galleries and struck the
platform, the scene could not have been
more radiant. Oh! how bright and how
beautiful the flowers and how much they
make me think of Christ and His religion,
that brightens everything it touches
brightens our life, brightens our character,
brightens society, brightens tine Church,
brightens everything. You who 60 with
gloomy countenance, pretending you are
better than I am because of your lugubri-
BUSINESS, you cannot cheat me. You old
hypocrite! I know you. Pretty case you
are for a man that processes to be more
than conqueror. 1t is not religion that
makes you gloomy; it is the lack Of it.
There is just as much religion in wedding
as in burial; just as much religion in
smile as in a tear. Those gloomy Chris
tians we sometimes see are the people to
whom I like to lend money, for never see
them again. The women came to the Sa-
viour's tomb and they dropped spices all
around the tomb, and those spices were the
seed that began to grow, and from them
come all the flowers of this Easter morn.-I
The two angels robed in white took hold of
the stone at the Saviour's tomb and they
hurled it with such force down the hill that
it crushed in the door of the worlds sepul-
chre and the stark and the dead must come
forth
care not how labyrinthine the mausole
um Or how costly the sarcophagus, or how
ever beautifully parterred the family
grounds, we want them all broken up by
the Lord of the resurrection. They must
come out. Father and mother-they must
come out Husband and wife-they must
come out Brother and sster-they must
come out. Our darling children-they must
come out. The eyes that we closed with
such trembling fingers must open again in
the radiance Of that morn. The arms we
folded in dust must join ours in an embrace
of reunion. The voice that was hushed in
our dwelling must be returned. o, how
long some of you seem to be waiting-wait
ing for the waiting! And for
these broken hearts to-day make soft,
cool bandage out of Easter flowers.
Six years ago the night before Easter, l
received an Easter card, on which there was
a representation of that exquisite flower,
the trumpet creeper, and under it the
words: ''The trumpet shall sound and tbe
dead shall rise" There was especial rea-
son why at that time 1 should have that
card sent me, and present the same con-
ISOLATION to-day to all in this house; and
who has escaped? /
My friends, this morning ! find in the |
risen Christ prophecy of our own resur-
rection, my text setting forth the idea that
as Christ has risen so His people will rise.
He the first sheaf of the resurrection har-
vest; He ''the first fruits of them that
slept Before 1 get through this morn
ing l will walk through all the cemeteries
of the dead, through all the country grave
yards where your loved ones are buried, and
| will pluck off these flowers and l will
drop sweet promise of the Gospel-a rose
of hope, a lily of joy on every tomb-the
child tomb, the husbands tomb, the wife
tomb, the fathers grave, the mother's
grave; and while we celebrate the resur-
rection of Christ, we will at the same time
celebrate the resurrection of all the good,
'Christ the first fruits of them that slept"
If should come to you this morning and
ask you for the names of the great conquer
ors of the world, you would say Alexander,
Cesar, Philip, Napoleon |. All, my friends.
you have forgotten to mention the name of
a greater coEqHeror than all these-a cruel,
CHASTITY conqueror He rode on black
horse across Waterloo, Atlanta, and Cha
Ions, the bloody hoofs crushing the hearts
of nations. 1t is the cOnqueror Death. lie
carries a black flag and he takes no pris-
oners. He digs a trench across the hem
isphere and fills it with the carcasses of ma
tions. Fifty times would the world have
been depopulated had not God kept ma
king new generations. Fifty times the
world would have swung lifeless through
the air-no man on the mountain, no man
on the sea, an abandoned ship ploughing
through immensity.
Again and again has He done this work
with all generations. He is a monarch as
well as conqueror; his palace a sepulchre,
his fountains the falling tears of a world
Blessed be God, in the light of this Easter
morning see the prophecy that his sceptre
shall be broken and his palace shall be de-
molished! The hour is coming when all
who are in their graves shall come FORTH
Christ risen, we shall rise. Jesus, "the
first fruits of them that slept"
Now, around this doctrine of the resur-
rection there are great many mysteries
You come to me this morning and say: "lf
the bodies of the dead are to be raised, how
is this and how is that?' and you ask me
thousand questions l am incompetent to an
swer; but there are great many things
you believe that you are not able to ex-