Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-04-13

When l am dead / would like to have a
handful OF violets-any one could pluck them
out OF the grass or some one could lift from
the edge of the pond a water lily-nothing
rarely expensive, no insane display. as some
times at funeral rites where thedisplay takes
the bread from the children's mouths. and
the clothes from their backs, but something
from the great democracy OF flowers Rather
than imperial catafalque of Russian car,
ask some one whom l may have helped by
gospel sermon or Christian deed to bring a
sprlg OF arbutus or handful of china asters.
Itwas left for modern times to spell respect
for the departed and comfort for the living
in letters OF floral gospel. Pillow of flowers
meaning rest for the pilgrim who has got to
the end of his Journey. Anchor of flowers
suggesting the Christian hope which we have
as On anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast.
Gross of flowers suggesting the tree on which
our sins were slain.
If had my way, l would cover up all the
dreamless sleepers, whether in golden han
died casket or pine box, whether a kings
mausoleum or potters field, with radiant
and aromatic arboresence. The Bible says,
in the midst of the garden there was a sep
ulcher. wish that every sepulcher might
be in the midst of a garden,
". If you insist on asking me the question,
What are flowers good fort 1 answer, for
religious symbolism Have you ever studied
Scriptural foral The Bible is an arboretum;
Il exquisite dsE beauty yoa want q G
trate the brevity Of the brightest human
life, you will quote from Job: "A man
cometh forth as a flower and is cut down"
Or you will quote from the psalmist: +" AS
the flower of the field, so he floursheth; the
wind passeth over it and it is gomez Or you
will quote from Isaiah: "All flesh is grass,
and the goodness thereof is as the flower
of the field" Or you will quote from James
the Apostle: "As the flower of the grass, so
he ,passeth away" What graphic Bible SYM
bolisml
All the cut flowers of this Easter day will
soon be dead, whatever care you take of them.
Though morning and night you baptize them
in the name of the shower, the baptism will
not be to them saving ordinance. They
have been fatally wounded with the knife
that cut them. They are bleeding their life
away; they are dying now. The fragrance
IN the air is their departing and ascending
spirits.
Oh yesl flowers are almost human. Bot
anists tell us that flowers breathe, they take
nourishment, they eat, they drink. They
are sensitive. They have their likes and dis
likes. They sleep, they wake. They live in
families. They have their ancestors and
their descendants, their birth, their burial,
their cradle, their grave, The zephyr rocks
the one, and the storm digs the trench for
the other. The cowslip must leave its gold,
the lily must leave its silver, the rose must
leave its diamond necklace of morning dew.
Dust to dust. So we come up, we prosper,
we spread abroad, we die, as the fower-as
the flower!
Change and decay on all around see;
o thou who changest not, abide with mel
Flowers also afford mighty symbolism Of
Christ, who compared Himself to the an
Gent queen, the lily, and the modern
queen, the rose. when he said: II am the
Of o,,I h. - h.
Redolent like the one, humble like the other.
Like both, appropriate for the sad who want
sympathizers, and for the rejoicing who
want banqueters lowering over the mar
riage ceremony like wedding bell, or folded
like chaplet on the pulseless heart of the
dead.
Oh, Christi let the perfume of Thy name
be waited around the earth-lily and rose,
lily and rose-until the wilderness crimson
into garden, and the round earth turn into
one great bud of immortal 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 corner
in all the building but is touched with the in
cense. 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, hurEd 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
ever beautifully parterred the family
grounds, we want them all broken up by
the Lord of 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 children-they must
come out. The eyes that with trembling
fingers we closed must open in the luster of
resurrection morn. The arms that we folded
in death must join ours in embrace of re-
union. The beloved voice that was hushed
must be returned. The beloved form must
come up without its infrmities, without its
fatigues-it must come up.
Oh, how long it seems for some of you.
Waiting-waiting for the resurrection. How
long! how long! l make for your broken
hearts to-day a COOL soft bandage of Easter
lilies. Last night we had come in the mails
a beautiful Easter card, on the top of it a
representation of that exquisite flower called
the trumpet creepern and under it the in
scripton: THE trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised" l comfort you this
day with the thought of resurrection.
When Lord Nelson was buried in st. PauPs
cathedral, in London, the heart of all Eng
land was stirred. The procession passed on
amid the sobbing of nation. There were
thirty trumpeters stationed at the door OF
the cathedral, with instruments of music in
hnnd, waiting for the signal, and when the
illustrious dead arrived at the gates of st.
Pauls Cathedral these thirty trumpeters
gave one united blast, and then all was ST.
lent. Yet the trumpets did not wake the
dead. He slept right on,
But have to tell you what thirty trumpet
ers could not do for one man. one trumpeter
will do for all nations. The ages have rolled
on, and the clock of the world'sdeStiny strikes
9, 10, II, 12, and time shall be no longerl
Behold the archangel lowering. Hetakes
the trumpet, points it this way puts its lips to
his lips, and then blows one long, loud, ter
rife thunderous, reverberating and resurrec-
tionary blast. Look! Look They risel
The dead! The dead Some coming forth
from the family vault. Some from the city
cemetery. Some from the country grave
yard. Here a spirit is joined to its body, and
there another spirit is joined to another body,
and millions of departed 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 Upward
and away Christ leads and all the Christian
dead follow, battalion and battalion, nation
after nation. Up, up! On, on! Forward,
we ranks of God Almighty Lift up your
heads, We everlasting gates, and let the con-
querors come in! Resurrection Resurrec-
toni
And so 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 | bind the
Easter morning of 1888 with the closing
Easter of the worlds history Resurrection
May the God of peace that brought again
from tha dead our Lord Lnsus that oreat