The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-04-18

the MOWERS WHICH you nave Plouooo An eSAASS
tionate remembrance Of them:
When I am dead I would like to have
handful of violets-any one could pluck them
out of the grass or some one could hrt from
the edge Of the pond q water lllv-notnln9
rarely expensive, no insane display, as some
times at funeral rites where the display takes
the bread from the childrens mouths. and
the clothes from their backs but something
from the great democracy Of flowers. Rather
than imperial catafalque of Russian czar, l
ask some one whom l may have helped oy
GOSPEL sermon or Christian deed to bring
sprig of arbutls or handful OF china asters
II was 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 70
the end of his journey. Anchor OF movers,
suggesting the Christian hope which we have
as an anchor to the soul, sure and steadtast.
Gross of flowers, suggesting the tree on "hlcn
our sins were slain.
If had my way, l would cover up all 1ne
dreamless sleepers, whether IN golden nan
mausoleum or potter's field, with radiant
and aromatic arboresence. The Bible says
in the midst Of the garden there was sep
ulchsr. wish that every sepulcher mlgnt
be in the midst Of a garden.
". II YOU insist on asking me the question,
What are flowers good fora answer, for
religious symbolism. Have you ever studied
Scriptural fora! The Bible is an arboretum;
it is divine cons,rvat2ry it IS t 1er1afI to iIns.
trate the brevity Of the brightest human
life, you will quote from Job: A man
cometh forth as a Ao ser and IS cut down:
Or you will quote from the psalmst: AS
the flower of the field, so he tiourisheth; the
wind passeth over it and tits gone" Or you
will quote from Isaiah: "All flesh Is grass,
and the goodness thereof is as the Hover
of the field" Or you will quote from James
the Apostle: GAS the flower OF the grass, SO
he paseth away" What graphic Bible sym
bolism. 80,
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 a saving ordinance Ihey
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. D..
Oh yes! flowers are almost human. Bot
anists tell us that flowers breathe, they take
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 hower-as
the flower.
Change and decay on all around see;
n thot,,. -hn cho M
Flowers also afford mighty symbolism Of
Christ who compared Himself to the an
cient queen, the lily, and the modern
queen, the rose. when he said: II am the
rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley"
Redolent like the one, humble like the other
Like both, appropriate for the sad who want
and for the rejoicing who
want banaueters lowering over the mar
riage ceremony like wedding bell, or folded
like chaplet on the pulseleSs heart OF the
lead.
Oh, Christ! let the perfume Of Thy name
be waited around the earth-lily and rose,
Iily and rose-unti 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 ccle-
brate the termination of Christ from the
All the flowers of to-day spell
There is not a 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, 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
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
morn. The arms that We folded
in death must join ours in embrace Of re-
union. The beloved voice that was hushed
must be retuned The beloved form must
COul0 up WltuOuI ltS IuLl ullbIos, WlV0Ouu leo
must come up.
Oh. how long it seems for some of you
W aiting waiting for the resurrection. How
long! how long! I make for your broken
hearts to-day cool. soft bandage of Easter
lilies. Last night we had come in the mails
q beautiful Easter card, on the top Of it q
OF that exquisite flower called
the trumpet creeper," and under it the in
scription: 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. Paurs
in London. the heart Of all Eng
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.
PaulhS Cathedral these thirty trumpeters
gave one united blast, and then all was 81
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 destiny strikes
g. TO- II, 12, and time shall be no longer!
Behold the archangel lowering. He takes
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 rise!
The dead. The dead! Some coming forth
from the family vault. Some from the city
cemetery. Some from the country grave
yard. Here spirit is joinei to its body, ard
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
great victory. All ready now for the pro.
cesson of reconstructed humanity! Upward
and away Christ leads and all the Christian
dead follow, battalion and battalion, nation
after nation Up, up On, Oh! Forward,
ye ranks of Goi Almighty. Lift up your
heads, ye everlasting gates, and let the con-
querors come in! Resurrection! Resurrec-