The Forrest City times., 1888-04-07

 membrance of theml
 When I am dead, would like to n.ye handful or viOlets-anyone could pluck them out Of the grass, or some one could Iift From the edge of the pond a -llly-nothing rarely expensive or insane display, as some times at funeral rites where the display takes the bread from the children's mouthst and the clothes from their backs, but something from the great democracy of flowers Rather than imperial catafalgus of Russian Csar, ask some one whom may have helped by Gospel sermon or Christian deed 10 bring a sprig Of srbutus or handful of China asters
 It was left to modern times 10 spell respect for the departed aud comfort for the living iu letters of floral Gospel Pillow of flowers, meaning rest for the pilgrim who has got to the end Of his journey Anchor of h0wefs, suggesting the Christian hope which we have as an anchor 10 the soul, sure 6nd steadfast Cross of flowers, suggesting the tree on which our sins were slain.
 If 1 had my way, would cover up all the dreamless sleepers whether in golden.hand led csskets or pine box, whether kings mausoleam os Putter's Field with radiant and aromatic arboresenee. The Bitle saTe, iu the midst Of the garden there was sepu chre. l wish that evcrT sepulchre might be In the midst Of a garden.
 ". If you insist 1n asking me the ques. ton: What are flowers good forl l answer Tor religious symbolism. Have youeyer
 
 arbetum. 1t Is divine conservatory, it is herharium of exquisite beauty. If you want te Illustrate the breyity Of tue brightest human life, you will quote from Job; "A mar cometh forth as flower and Is cut down. Or YOU will quote from the Psalmistt "As the flower of the field, SO be perlsheth, the wind rasssth over it ard it is gone" Or you will quote from Isaiah "Sll flesh is grass, and the goodliness thereof Is as the flower of the fleld.n Or you will quote from James the A.. tN q ( Fls Ia passeth away.n What graphic Bible sym boiisml
 All the cut flowers of this Easter day will soon be dead, whatever care you take Of them. Though morning and night you psptze them in the name of the shower, ordinance. They have been fatally wounded with the knife that cut them. They are bleeding their life away: they are dying now. The fragrance fin the air is their departing and ascending spirits.
 Oh yes flowers are almost human. Rctanists tell us that flowers breathe, they take nourisE- ment, they ea', they drink. They are sensi- tive. They have their likes and disllkes. IheJ sleep, they wake. They live in families. They have their ancestors and their descendants, their birth, their burial, their cradle, their grave. The zephyrs rocks the one, and tho storm digs the trench for the other. The COW slips must leave it's gold the lily must leave its silver, the rose must leave It's diamond
 
 we come un we prosper, we spread abroad,we die, as the ilower-as the howei.
 Change and decay on all around see;
 0 Thou who chgngest not abide with mel
 Flowers also afford mighty symbolism of Christ, who compared himself to the ancient queen, the lily, and the modern queen, the rose, when lie said: Il am the rose of sharon, and the lily of the yalleysh Redolent like the one, humble like the other. Like both, appropriate for the sad who want sympstblz- haV ers. Towering over the marriage ceremony Ike a wedding bel, or folded like chaplet on the pulseless heart Of the dead.
 Oh Christ! let the perfume of thy name be waited all around the earth-lily and rose, lily and rose--until the wilderness crimson into a 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 aud 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 reanimation 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 incense. Tue 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 whterobed angels that hurled the stone away from the door Of the tomb, hurled II crashed in the door of the worlds sepulehre, and millions of the stark and dead shall come forth.
 However labyrlnthian the mausoleum, how ever costly the sareophagus, however archl- tecturally grand the metropolis, however beautifully parterred the family grounds we want them al broken up by the Lord of the resurrection. The forms that we laid away with our broken hearts must rise again. Father and mother-ihey must come out. Htnui ui.an nd rff hau net ont Brothers and sisters--they must come out. Our darling childrcu-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 re- turned. The beloved form must come up without its infirmlties, without its fatgues- it must come up.
 On, how long it seems for some of you Waiting-waiting for the resurrection. How longl how long l make for your broken hearts to-day a cool, soft bandage of Easter lilies Last night we had come fin the mails beautiful Easter card, on the top of 1t re- the trumpet creeper," and under it the inscription 1.-The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raisedn 1 comfort you this day with the thought of resurrection.
 When Lord Nelson was buried in St. Paul. Cathedral in London the heart of all England
 
 the sobblng of nation. There were thirty trumpeters stationed at the door of the Ca thedral with instruments of music in hand, waiting for the signal, and when the illustrt ous dead arrived at the gates of St. Paufs 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 trumpet CTS could not do for one man, one trumpeter xyIl n fnr al have rolled on, and the clock of the worlds dignity strikes nine, ten, eleven, twelve, and time shall be no longer
 Behold tbe archangel lowering. He takes tie trumpet, points It this way puts its lips to his lips, and then blows one long, loud, terrific, thunderous, reverberatIng and resur- rectonary blast Look Lookl They rise The dead The dead Some coming forth from the family vault. Some from the city cemetery. Some from the country graveyard. Here a spirit is iolued to its body, and there another spirit Is joined to another body, and millions of departed spirits are asserting the bodies and then reclolhing themselves in forms nov radiant for ascension. The earth begiugs 10 burn-the bonfire Of 2 great victory. All ready now for the proces- sion of reconstructed humanity Upward and away Christ leads and all ihe Christian dea6 follow, battalion after battalion, nation after nation. Up, upl On onl Forward, ye ranks of God Almighty Lift up vouI heads, ye everlasting gates and let the con querors come in Resurrection Resurec tiOnl
 And so I twist all tho festal flowers of this church with all the festal flowers of ebspes and cathedrals of all Chrisiendom into one great chain, and with that chain l bind the Easter morning of 1888 with the closing Eas ter of the worlds history Resurrection May the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd Of the sheep, through the blood oi the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work 10 do His will.