Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-22
EASTER AR0MATICS.
DR.. Talmage ElOquently breaches an
AmbrOSial Gospel That
WILL YET CLEANSE THE WORLD.
What the Frankincense Brought to the
Tomb by the MaryS Typifes.
WHY THE ANGEL SAT UPON THE STONE


BROOKLYN, April PA vast multitude
-. attended the Easter services at the Brook
lyn Tabernacle this morning. The pews,
the aisles and all the adjoining rooms were
thronged, and multitudes in the street could
not gain an entrance. Rev. 7. De Witt
Tslmage, D. D., preached on the subject,
"Aromatics for Easter" The pulpit and
galleries of the church had elaborate floral
decorations The congregation sang the
opening hymn:
We praise thee,O o God, for the Son of Thy love,
For Jesus who died and is now gone above.
DR.. Talmage took two texts Luke xiv,
l: Bringing the spices which they had pre-
pared I Corinthians XIV, 81: ''The trum-
pet shall sound'' He said:
Enchanting work have 1 before me this
Easter morning for initiating these women OF
the text, who brought aromatlcs to the
nausoleum of Christ I am going to unroll
frankincense and balm and ottar of roses and
cardamon from the East Indies and odors from
Arabia, and, when we can inhale no more of
the perfume, then we will talk of sweet sounds
and hear from the music that shall wake the
dead. Having on other casters described the
whole scene, l need only in four or hVe SEN
tences say: Christ was lying fiat on his back,
liteless, AMIDST sculptured rocks, rocks over
him, rocks under him, and door of rocks all
bounded by the flowers and fountains of
Joseph's country seat Then bright i'm
mortal, having descended from heaven, quick
and flashing as falling meteor, picks up the
door of rock and putsit aside as though it were
chair and sits on it Then Christ unwraps
himself of his mortuary apparel and takes the
turban from his head and folds it up deliber-
ately and lays it down in one place. and then
puts the shroud in another place and comes
out and finds that the soldiers who had been on
ard 1r-fv, nd 1No11 and in nnon
swoon, their swords bent and useless.
THE INDUSTRIOUS PRISONER
of the tomb is discharged and 500 people see
him at once. An especial congress of ecclesi-
astics called to pay bribe to the resuscitated
soldiers to say that there was no resurrection
and that while they were overcome of slumber
the Christians had played resurrectionists and
stolen the corpse. The Marys are at the tomb
with aromatics.
Why did not these women of the text bring
thorns and nettles, for these would more thor
oughly have expressed the piercing sorrows of
themselves andtheir Lord? Why did they not
bring some national ensign, such as that OF the
Roman eagle, typical of conquest? No, they
bring aromatics suggestive to me of the fact
that the gospel is to sweeten and deodorlze the
world. The world has so much of putreiaction
and malodor that Christ is going TO roll over it
waves of frankincense and sprinkle it all over
with sweet smelling myrrh. Thousands
of years before this Solomon had said
that Christ was a lily and Isaiah had
declared that under the gospel the
desert would bloom like the rose, but the
world was slow to take the floral hint. And so
now the women of the text bring hands and
arms full of redolence, and" perhaps unwit-
tingly confirm and emphasize the lesson of de-
odorization. When Christ's Gospel has con-
quered the earth the last offense TO the olfac-
tories will have left the world; pure air will
have blown through every home and churches
will be freed from the curse of i'll ventilation
and the world will become two great gardens
the empurpled and emblaZoned and empara-
dised hemlspheres. Sin is buzzard, holiness
is dove. Sin is a nightshade, holiness is a
flower. If you are trying to reform the world
open the windows of that tenement house and
pour through it draught of Gods pure atmos-
phere and set a geranium or heliotrope on the
window sill; cleanse the air and you will help
cleanse the soul. How dare this world so often
insult that feature of the human face which
God has made the most prominent feature in
human physiognomy2 To prove how he him
self loves aromatics bring the fact that there
are
MILLIONS OF FLOWERS
on prairies and in mountain Businesses, the
fragrance of which no human being ever
breathes, and He must have grown them there
for His own regalement and for the compli-
ment the world paid Christ by giving Him a
sepulchre in Joseph garden, He will yet make
the whole earth garden. Yes, He expressed
bis delight with fragrance in the first book of
the Bible, when He said: 1.-The Lord smelled a
sweet savor;" and He filed the air of the an
cient tabernacle and temple with sweet in
cense; and there are small bottles of perfume
in heaven described IN Revelation. as golden
yials full of odors Ipreach an ambrosial Cos
pei which will yet extirpate from the world all
foulness and rancidity and the last noisome-
ness and the last mephitic gas. Glad am THAT
though the world had chiefly spikes for the
Ssviours feet and thorns for the Savjour's
brow, the magi put frankincense upon His
cradle and the Marys brought franklncense for
His grave.
Notice also that Christ's mausoleum was
opened by conclusion. 1t was a great EARTH
quake that put its twisted key into the involved
and labyrinthine lock of that tomb. Concus-
sioni That is the power that opens all the
Jombs that are opened at all. Tomb of soul
and tomb of nations. Conclusion between
England and the l3 colonies, and forth comes
free government in America. Conclusion be-
tween France and Germany, and forth comes
Tepublicanism for France. Conclusion among
the rocks on Mount Sinai, and on two of them
was left perfect law for all ages. Conclusion
among the rocks around Calvary and the cruci-
fxion was made the more overwhelming. Con-
cussion between the United States and Mexico,
and a vast area of country becomes
ours. Conclusion between England and
France, and most of this continent west OF
the Mississippi becomes the property of the
American Union. Conclusion between iceberg
and iceberg, between boulder and boulder and
q IQOubd0O COhCubSlOnS IllS world into
shape for mans residence. Conclusion be-
tween David and his enemies, and out came
the Psalms, which otherwise would never have
been written. Conclusion between Gods will
and mans will, and, ours overthrown, we are
new creatures in Christ Jesus. Conclusion of
misfortune and trial for many of the good, and
out comes their especial conservation, Do not
therefore, be frightened when you see the
great upheavals, the great agitations, the great
earthquakes whether among the rocks or
among the nations or in individual experience,
Out of them God will bring best results
and most magnificent consequences.
Hear the crash all round the Lords sarcop-
hagus and see the glorious termination of its
dead inhabitant. Conclusion! If ever a general
European war, which the world has been ex-
pecting for the last 20 years, should come,
conclusion so wide and conclusion so tre-
mendous would not leave a throne in Europe
standing as it now is The nations of the earth
are tired of having their kings born to them,
and they would after awhile elect their kings
and there would be an Italian republic and a
German republic, and Russian republic, and
an Austrian republic. and out of the cracks
and crevices and chasms of that conclusion
would come resurrection for all Europe. Stag
nation is deathful;
CONCLUSION is NEsSIANIC.
Notice also what the angel did with the stone
after he had rolled it away from the mouth of
the Savior's mausoleum. The book saws he
rolled away the stone from the door and sat
upon it. All of us ministers have preached a
sermon about the angels rolling awav tho