The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-05-07
TALMAGE's SERMON.
The Lessons Presented By the Re.
currence Of Easter-Tids.
Tho Brightness Of Earthly Flowers ~ Pre-
aguring the Glories Of the Last Great
Resurrectfou-The Duties OF
Immortality.

IMMORTALITY
Rev. 7. Dewitt Talma9e delivered his
Easter Tide sermon at the Brooklyn Taber.
nacle from til. following text:
Vow IL Chris. risen from the dead and be.
come the first fruits of them that slept.-u
Cor, XIV, 90.
He spoke a follows:
On this glorious E>ster morning, amid
the music and the flowers. give You
Christian salutation. This morning Rus.
elan meeting Russian on the streets of
st. Petersburg halls him with the saluta.
tion:
"Christ is riseu"
And is answered by his friend in saluts.
Zion.
"He is risen indeed"
In some parts Of England and Ireland
70 this varv day there il the superstition
that on Easter mos ling the sun dances in
the Heavens: and we'll may we forgive
such a superstition which illustrates the
fact that the natural world seems to sym.
pathize with the spiritual
EASTER VOICES.
Hail Easter morning Flowers! Flowers!
All Of them a voice. all Of them a tongue.
all of them full Of speech to-day. I bend
over one of the lilies and hear them say:
Consider the lilies Of she field. how they
grow they toll not. neither do they spin, yet
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as
one Of these.
bend over a rose and it seems to whis.
per:
ba roco of Sharon
And then stand and listen. From all
eides there comes the chorus Of flowers,
saving:
IF God so clothe the grass OF the field.
which to-day &c. and tomorrow IL east into
the oven. shall he not much more clothe you,
Oh We OF little faith?
Flowers, Flowers. Braid them into the
BRIDES hair. Flowers! Flowers, Strew
them over the graves of the dav. sweet
prophecy o. The resurrection. Flowers!
Flowers! Twist them info garland for
my Lord Jesus on Easter morning. "Glory
he 70 the Father and TO the Son and TO the
Holy Ghost: as it vas in the beginning, is
now and ever shall be.'
Why. If rainbow this morning had
fallen and struck the galleries and struck
the platform. the scene could not have
been more radiant Oh, how bright and
how beautiful ths flowers. and how much
they make me think Of Christ and his re-
ligion, that hrightens every thing it
touches. brightpns cur life. briShtens our
character. brightens society, brightens the
church. brightens every thing. You who
go with gloomy ccunteuance pretending
Won are better than I am because of your
righteousness. Won can not cheat me.
You OLD iypocrite! know you. Pretty
case Won are for man til at processes to be
more than conqueror. It is not religion
that makes Won gloomy: it is the lack of
it. There is just as much religion in a
wedding as in q burial. just as much reii-
gion in a smile as in tear. Those gloomy
Christians we sometimes see are the people
to whom like to lend money, FOR never
see them again! The women came to the
Saviour's tomb. and they dropped spices all
around the tomb. and those spices were the
seed that began TO grow. and from them
came all the flowers of this Easter morn.
The two angels robed in white took hold
OF the stone at the Saviour's tomb and thew
hurled il with such force down the hill
that it crushed in the door of the worlds
must come forth.
care not how labyrinthine the mauso-
Tenn. or how costly the sarcophagus, or
however beautifully parterred the family
grounds. we want them all broken up ny
the Lord of the resurrection. They must
come out. Father and mo.her-they must
come out. Husband and wife-they must
come out. Brother and sister-thev must
come ont Our darling children-they
must come ont. The eyes that we close
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 re-
turned. o. how long some of you seem to
he withdrawing for the resurrection,
waiting! And for these broken hearts to-
day make a soft, cool bandage out of
Easter flowers.
Six wears ago, the nigh. before Easter,
received an Easter card on which there
was a representation of that exquisite
flower, the trumpet creeper, and under it
the words:
Tie trumpet shall sound and the dead shall
rise.
There was especial reason why at that
time should have that card sent me, and
present the same consolation to-day to
all in this house; and who has escaped?
Ny friends, this morning find in the
risen Christ a 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 get through this morn.
ing, will walk through all the cemeteries
OF the dead, through eli the country grave
yards where your loved ones are buried,
and will pluck off these flowers and I
will drop a sweet promise OF the Gospels
rose Of hope, a lily of joy on every tomb
tie child's tomb, the husbands tomb, the
wife's tomb, the fathers grave, the moth
er's grave; and while we celebrate the
resurrection of Christ we will at the same
time celebrate the resurrection Of all the
good.
Christ the first fruits OF them that slept.
If l should come to you this morning
and ask you for the names of the great
conquerors of the world, you would say
Alexander, Cesar, Philip, Napoleon l.
All, my friends, you have forgotten to
mention the name of greater conqueror
than all these-a cruel, CHASTITY conquer
or. He rode on a black horse across Wa
terloo, Atlanta and Chalons, the bloody
hoofs crushing the hearts of nations. It is
the conqueror death. He carries black
flag, and he takes no prisoners. He digs
trench across the hemispheres and fills it
with the carcasses of nations. Fifty times
would the world have been depopulated