Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-05-03


No. Thunderbolt cleaying asunder the
granite? No. Battering ram swung
against the walls of cemeteries?
No. Dynamite drilled under the
foundations of cenotaph and abbey?
No. II will be done by music.
| Nothing but music, sweet but
ali penetrating music. The trumpet
shall sound! You say that is figurative:
how do you know? But, whether literal
or fieurative, it means music anyho ".
The trumpet, that stirring, lnclslve'
mighty instrument. with natural com
mss from G below the staff to above.
blown above Sinai when the law was
given. blown around Jericho when the
walls tumbled, blown when Gideon dis
comfted the Midianites, blown when
the ancient Israelites were gathered for
worship, to be blown for the raising OF
the dead in the last great Easter. The
mother, who when the child must be
awakenened, kisses its eyes awake, does
we'll.
But the trumpet, which when the dead
are to be aroused kisses the ear awake,
does better. Be not surprised if the
Why, that is the way now We raise the
dead. Take the statistics, if you can.
| of the millions of souls that have been
raised from the death Of sin by hymns.
by psalms, by solos, by anthems. by
flutes, by violins, by organs. by trum-
pets. Under God what hosts have been
resurrected by Ira d. Sankey, by Thomas
Hastings. by William d. Bradbury. by
Lowell Mason, by motherly lullabies,
by church doxologies, by oratorios. IT
we raise the dead now by music, be not
surprised that on the last day the dead
are to be raised by music.
,o< oh coorf1f Arl thof
instrument shall have plenty of work to
do on the day mentioned. 1t will have
to sound through all the pyramids.
which nre only names for sepIlchers,
and liberate the buried kings. And
through hypogean graves which were
built in. mounds and the hypogean
graves which were dug in rocks and
through the'nine hundred winding miles
of catacombs under and around the
Roman Campagna, where over seven
million human beings sleep. And
through all the crystal sarcophagi of
Atlantic and Pacific and Mediterranean
and Caspian and Black sea Geeps. And
over all the battle fields Of Continents,
| until all the fallen troops of English
and French and Italian and German and
Russian and Persian and American md
the worlds battle-telds answer the call.
Marathon, come up! Agincourt, come
up! Blenheim, come up! Acre. come up!
Hohenlinden, come up! Sedan. como
up! Gettysburg, come up! Near Sharps-
burg, during our civil war, when was,
with some others, under the auspices of
the Christian commission, looking after
the wounded, Federal and Confederate,
one moonlight night was where could
look down upon the tents of the sleep
ing army. Oh, what an imposing spect-
acle! But my subject calls us to look
down upon mightier host of soldiers
slumbering their last sleep in the bivouac
of the dust; the seven hundred and fifty
thousand slain in the Crimean war; the
eight hundred thousand slain in our
American War, the fifteen million slain
in the wars of Sesostris, the twenty five
million slain Jewish wars, the thirty
two million slain in wars of Ghengis
Khan, the eighty million slain in the
wars of the Crusaders, the one hundred
and eighty million slain in the Roman
dead in war, if each one occupied four
feet of ground, would make enough
graves to reach four hundred and forty
two times around the earth.
l But the trumpet shall sound. Music
to raise the dead. Oh, how much the
world needs it! You take torch and
will take torch and we will go through
some of the allies of the Roman cata-
combs and see the eXpectant epitaphs
on the walls and right over where the
departed sleep. You know that these
catacombs are fifty OF sixty feet under
ground, and if one loses the guide or
the way out. SO let us stay close to-
gether, and with our torches, as We wan
der along small part of the nine hun
dred miles of underground passages,
see the inscriptions as they were really
chiseled there on both sides the way.
On your side you read by the light Of
your torch: Here rests the handmade
of God who out of all her riches
now possesses but this one house.
Thou wilt remain in eternal repose
of happiness, A. d. $780," On my
side read by the light Of the
torch: "Aurelia. our sweetest daughter;
A. D. 1885," On your side You read:
Here hath been laid sweet spirit,
guileless, wise and beautiful. Buried
in peace. A. D. $685." On my side
read: You we'll deserving one, lie in
peace. You will rise. A temporary rest
is granted you. Plaucus, her husband,
made this. On your side you read:
"Nicephorus, sweet soul, in the place
OF refreshment. On my side l read:
IN christ, Alexander is not dead, but
lives beyond the stars, and his dead
body rests in this tomb" On your side
you read: Here, happy: you find rest
in God" "Valeria sleeps in peace. !"
"Arethusa sleeps in God" "Navira in
peace, sweet soul who lived sixteen
years. soul sweet as honey; this cpl
taPh was made by her parents.
But let US come out from these cata-
combs and extinguish our torches, for
upon all these longings and expectations
Of all nations the morning of resurrec-
ton dawns. The trumpet shall sound!
And the sooner it sounds the better.
Oh, how we would like to'get our loved
ones back again! If we are ready to
meet our Lord, our sins all pardoned,
what good thing if this moment we
could hear the reseunding and rever-
berating blast! Would you not like to
see your father again, your mother again,
your daughter again, your boy again an d
all your departed kindred again? Roll
on, sweet day of resurrection and re-
union! Under the hoofs of the white
steeds that draw thy chariot we strew
Easter flowers. Would it not be grand