St. Landry democrat., 1886-05-15
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Lessons Presented By the Re-
currenoe of Easter-Tide.
The Brightness of Earthly Flowers as Pre-
figuring the Giories of the Last Great
Resurrection-The Duties of
Immortality.

nov. IL Ue"itt AdfudSo UeliVeTeu ulB
Easter Tide sermon at the Brooklyn Taber-
nacle from the following text:
Now is Christ risen from the dead. and be-
come the first fruits of them that slept.-iI
Cor, XIV, 20.
He spoke as follows:
On this glorious Easter morning, amid
the music and the flowers, I give you
Christian salutation. This morning Rus
sian meeting Russian on the streets of
St. Petersburg halls him with the saluta-
tion:
"Christ is risenl"
And is answered by his friend in saluta-
tion.
He is risen indeed"
In some parts of England and Ireland
to this very day there is the superstition
that on Easter morning 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 voice, all of them tongue,
all of them full of speech to day. I bend
over one of the lilies and hear them say:
Consider the lilies of the 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 rose and it seems to whis-
per:
I am the rose of Sharon.
And then stand and listen. From all
sides there comes the chorus of flowers,
saying:
If God so cothe the grass Of the field,
which to-day Is. and tomorrow is cast into
the oven. shall he not much more clothe you,
oh ye of little faith?
Flowers! Flowersl Braid them into the
BRIDES hair. Flowers! Flowers! Strew
them over the graves Of the day, sweet
prophecy of the resurrection. Flowers!
Flowers! Twist them into garland for
my Lord Jesus on Easter morning. "Glory
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 a 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 the flowers, and how much
they make me think of Christ and his re-
Iigion, that brightens every thing it
touches, brightens our life, brightens our
character, brightens society, brightens the
church, brightens every thing. You who
go with gloomy countenance pretending
you are better than am because Of your
righteousness, you can not cheat me.
You old hypocrite! I know you. Pretty
case you are for 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 reli-
gion in smile as in tear. Those gloomy
Christians we sometimes see are the people
to whom like to lend money, for I 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 they
hurled it with such force down the hill |
that it crushed in the door of the worlds |
sepulcher, and the stark and the dead |
must come forth.
care not how iabyrinthine the mauso-
ieum, or how costly the sarcophagus, or
however 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 sister-they must
come out. Our darling children-they
must come out. 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. 0, how long some of you seem to
be waiting-waiting for the resurrection,
waiting! And for these broken hearts to-
day make a soft, cool bandage out of
Easter flowers.
Six years ago, the night before Easter,
received an Easter card on which there
was a representation Of that exquisite
flower, the trumpet creeper, and under it
the words:
The trumpet shal, 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 escaped7
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 s'the first fruits of them that
slept" Before get through this morn
ing, will walk through all the cemeteries
of the dead, through all the country grave
yards where your loved ones are buried,
and viii pluck off these flowers and T
will drop sweet promise of the Gospel-a