Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-04-11

crimson into garden, and the round earth
turn into one great bud ofimmortal beauty
laid against the warm heart Of God.
Snatch down from the worlds banners
eagle and lion, and put on lily and rose,
lily and rose.
But, my friends, flowers have no grander
use than when on Easter morning we cele-
brate the termination of Christ from the
catacombs. All the flowers of to-day spell
resurrection. There is not nook or cor
ner in all the building but is touched with
the incense. The women carried spices to
the tomb of Christ, and they dropped spices
all around about the tomb, and from those
spices have grown all the flowers of Easter
morn. The two white robed angels that
hurled the stone away from the door of the
tomb, hurled it with such violence down
the hill that it crashed in the door of the
worlds sepulchre, and millions of the stark
and dead shall come forth.
However labyrinthian the mausoleum,
however costly the sarcophagus, however
architecturally grand the metropolis, how
ever beautifully parterred the family
grounds, we want them all broken up by
the Lord of the resurrection. The forms
that we laid away with our broken hearts
must rise again. Father and mother
they must come out. Husband and wife
they must come out Brothers and sisters
they must come out. Our darling chill
dren-they must come out. The eyes that
with trembling fingers we closed must open
in the lustre of resurrection morn. The
arms that we folded in death must join ours
in embrace of reunion. The beloved voice
that was hushed must be returned. The
beloved form must come up without its in
firmities, without its fatigues-itm must come
up.
Oh, how long it seems for some of you.
Waiting-waiting for the resurrection.
How long! how long! make for your
broken hearts to. day cool, soft bandage OF
Easter lilies. Last night we had come in
the mails beautiful Easter card, on the
top of it representation of that exquisite
flower called "the trumpet creeper," and
under it the inscription: "The trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised"
I comfort you this day with the thought of
When Lord Nelson was buried in st.
Paurs Cathedral in London the heart OF all
England was stirred. The procession pass
ed on amid the sobbing of nation. There
were thirty trumpeters stationed at the
door of the Cathedral, with instruments of
music in hand, waiting for the signal, and
when the illustrious dead arrived at the
gates of st. Paul's Cathedral these thirty
trumpeters gave one united blast, and then
all was silent. Yet the trumpets did not
wake the dead. He slept right on.
But have to tell you, what thirty trum.
peters could not do for one man, one trum'
peter will do for all nations. The ages
have rolled on, and the clock of the worlds
destiny strikes nine, ten, eleven, twelve,
and time shall be no longer!
Behold the archangel lowering. He takes
the trumpet, points it this way, puts its lips
to his lips, aud then blows one long, loud,
terrific, thunderous, reverberating and re-
surrectionary blast. Lookl Look! They
rise! The dead! The dead! Some COM
ing forth from the family vault. Some
from the city cemetery Some from the
country graveyard. Here a spirit is joined
to its body. and there another spirit is join
ed to another body, and millions of depart
ed spirits are asserting the bodies and then
reclothing themselves in forms now radiant
for ascension.
The earth begins to burn-the bonfire of
a great victory. All ready now for the pro
cession of reconstructed humanity. Up
ward aud away! Christ leads and all the
Christian dead fellow, battalion after bat
TALON. nation after nation. up, upl On,
on! Forward, ye ranks of God Almighty
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates,
aud let the conquerors come in! Resurrec
tion! Resurrection!
And so l twist all the festal flowers of
this church with all the festal flowers of
chapels and cathedrals of all Christendom
into one great chain, and with that chain l
bind the Easter morning of 1888 with the
closing Easter of the worlds history-res-
direction! May the God of peace, that
brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus that great Shepherd Of the sheep,
through the blood Of the everlasting cove
nant, make you perfect in every good work
to do His will.