The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-02

You have noticed, suppose, in reading the
story of the resurrection, that almost every ac-
count of the Bible gives the idea that the char
acteristic of that day will be great sound. /
do not know that it will be very loud but /
know that it will be very penetrating In the
mausoleum where silence has reigned thousand
years that voice must penetrate In the coral cave
OF the deep that voice must penetrate Millions OF
spirits must come through the gates OF eternity,
and they will come to the tombs of the earth
and they will cry, "Give us back our bodies we
gave them to you in corruption. surrender them
now in interruption" Hundreds of spirits how
ering about the craigs of Gettysburg, for there
the bodies are buried. A hundred thousand
spirits coming to Greenwood. for there the
| bodies are buried waiting for the reunion OF
body and sorl.
All along the sea route from New York to Liv-
erpool, at every few miles. where steamer
went down, departed spirits coming back how
ering over the wave There is where the City of
Boston - she'd. Found at last. There is
where tn resident persisted. Steamer found
at last. There is where the Central America
went down. Spirits lowering, hundreds OF spir-
| it's lowering, waiting for the reunion of body
| and soul. Out on the prairie spirit alights.
| There is where traveller died in the snow.
| Crash goes Westminster Abbey and the poets
and orators come forth. Wonderful mingling of
good and bad. Wherefore, the good; Queen
| Elizabeth, the bad. Crash goes the Pyramids Of
| Egypt, and the monarchs come forth.
Who can sketch the scene2 Isuppose that one
| moment before that general rising there will be
an eternal silence save as you hear the grinding
| of a Wheel or the clatter of the hoofs of pro-
cessioD passing into the cemetery Silence in all
the caves of the EARTH silence the side of the
mountain; silence down in the valleys and far
| out into the sea; silence. But in a moment-in
the twinkling of an eye, as the archangels trum-
| pet comes pealing, rolling, crashing across the
| mountain and sea, the earth will give one ter
rife shudder, and the graves of the dead will
heave like the waves Of the sea. and Ostend, and
Sebastopol, and Chalons will stalk forth in the
lurid air. and the drowned will come up and
wiring out their wet locks above the billow, and
all the land and all the sea become one moving
| mass of life-all faces, all ages and conditions
gazing in one direction and upon one throne-the
| throne of resurrection "All who are in their
graves shall come forth"
But" you say ''if this doctrine of the resur-
rection is true prefgured by this Easter
morning, Christ the first fruits OF them that
| slept Christ rising, promise and prophecy
of the rising of all His people. can you tell US
something about the resurlected bodyP l can.
| There are mysteries about that, but shall tell
| you three or four things in regard to the resur
rected body that are beyond guessing and be-
yond mistake.
resurrected body, it will be glorious body.
| The body we have now is mere skeleton of
| what it would have been if sin had not marred
| and defaced it. Take the most exquisite statue
that was ever made by an artist and chip it here
and chip it there with chisel, and batter and
bruise it here and there, and then stand it
out in the storms of a hundred years, and the
beauty would be gone Well, the human body
has been Clipped, and battered, and bruised, and
damaged with the storms of thousand years
the physical defects of other generations coming
down from generation to generation we inherit
ing the nfeicties of past generations; but in the
| morning of the resurrection the body will be
adorned and beautfed according to the original
model, and there is such difference between
a gymnast and an emacated wretch in laZa-
retto, as there will be a difference between our
bodies as they are now and our resurrected
forms.
There you will see the perfect eye after the
waters of death have washed out the stains of
tears and study. There you will see the perfect
hand after the knots of toll have been united
from the knuckles. There you will see the form
erect and elastic after the burdens have gone off
| the shoulders-the very life of God in the body.
In this world the most impressive thing the
| most expressive thing. is the human face; but
that face is vailed with the griefs of thousand
years. In the resurrection morn that vail will
be taken away from the face, and the MONDAY
| sun is dull and dim and stupid compared with
| the outfamng gories Of the countenances of
the saved. When those faces of the righteous,
| those resurrected faces. turn toward the gate or
look up toward the throne, it will be like the
dawning of new morning on the bosom of ever
lasting day! 0 glorious, resurrected body
But l remark, also, in regard to that body
which you are to get in the resurrection it will
be an immortal body. These bodies are wasting
away. Somebody has said as soon as we begin
to live we begin to die. Unless we begin
putting the fuel into the furnace the
furnace dies out. The blood vessels
are the canals taking the breadstuffs to
structed hour by hour. day by day. Sickness
| and death are all the time trying to get their
prey under the tenement or to push US off tho
embankment of the grave; but, blessed be God!
in the resurrection we will get body immortal.
No malaria in the air, no couch, no neuralgia
| twinge. no rheumatic pang, no futtering Of the
heart, no shortness of breath, no ambulance, no
dispensary, no hospital, no invalids chair, no
spectaces to improve the dim vision; but health,
immortal health. o ye who have aches and
pains ndescribable this morning; 0 ye who are
never well: o ye who are lacerated with physical
distresses let me tell you of the resurrected
body, free from all diseased Immortal! Immor-
| tai
l go further. and say in regard to that body
which you are to get In the resurrection, 1t will
be powerful body We walk now eight or ten
| miles and we are fatigued. We lift few hun
| dred pounds and we are exhausted; unarmed we
| meet wild beast and we must run, or fly, or
| climb, or dodge because we are incompetent to
| meet it, we toll eight or ten hours vigorously,
| and then we are weary; but in the resurrection
| we are to have body that never gets tired. Is
it not glorious thought Plenty of occupation
| in heaven. suppose, and Broadway, New York,
| in the busiest season of the year at MONDAY is
| not SO busy as heaven is all the time. Grand
projects of mercy for other worlds. Victories to
| be celebrated. The downfall of despotism on
earth to be announced Great songs to be
learned and sung. Great expeditions on
| which God shall send forth His children.
| Plenty to do, but no fatigue. If you
| are seated under the tree of life it will
not be to rest, but to talk over with some old
| comrade old times-the battles where you
| fought, shoulder to shoulder. Jacob and the
angel wrestled together. Jacob was not thrown
| because the angel favored him. But once get
| your resurrected body and the angel could not
wrestle you down. 1t is impossible to wreste
down the giants OF God on high-strong, supple,
unexhausted mighty, immortal Oh, is it not
| glorious thought
Sometimes in this world we feel we would like
| to have such body as that There is so much
work to be done for Christ, there are SO many
| tears to be wiped away, there are so many bur-
dens to lift, there is much to be achieved for
| Christ. We sometimes wish that from the first