The Penn's Grove record., 1892-04-22
PENIS GROVE, n. J., FRIDAY. APRIL q. 1889

the troubles which submerge US can even
alright our friends assembled?
Before this | warrant our deps rted ones
have been introduced to all the celebrities OF
heaven, Some one has said to them: Let
me introduce you to Joshua, the man who
by prayer stopped two worlds for several
hours. Let me make you acquainted with
this group of three heroes-John Huss,
Philip Melancthon and Martin Luther.
Aha here is Feneloni Here is Archbishop
Here is Matthew Simpson, Here is poets
row--James Montgomery and Anna Bar
baud and Horatius Bonar and Phn %
Palmer and Lowell Mason"
Were YOU departed ones fond of musics
What ~oratoris led on by Handel and Hay
den. Were they fond OF pictures b
Raphaels pointing out skies with all colors
wrought out into chariot wheels, wings of
seraphim and coronations. Were they fond
Of poetry What eternal rhythms led on by
John Milton. Shall we pity our glorifed
kindred? No, they had better pity us. We,
the shipwrecked and on a raft in the hurri-
cane, looking up at them sailing on over
calm sees, under skies that never frowned
with tempests. we hoppled with chains; they
lifted by wings. surely the bitterness of
death is past"
Further, if what l have been saying Is
true, we should trust the Lord and be
thrilled with the fact that our own day of
tbCtpt COLlcIu. II Out HNtS "tic ROluR u
end when our hearts ceased to pulsate and
our lungs to breathe, / would want to take
ten million years OF life here for the first
installment. But, my Christian friends, we
cannot afford always to stay down in the
cellar of our Fathers house. We cannot
always be postponing the best things. We
cannot always be tuning our violins for the
celestial orchestra. We must get our wings
out. We must mount. We cannot afford
always to stand out here in the vestibule of
the house of many mansions, while the
windows are illuminated with the levee
angelic, and we can hear the laugh
ter of those forever free, and the
ground quskes with the bounding
Feet of those who have entered upon eternal
play. Ushers Of heaveni Open the gates!
Swing them clear back on their pearly
hingesl Let the celestial music rain on us
Its cadence. Let the hanging gardens OF
the king breath on us their aromatics. Let
Dur redeemed ones just look out and give
us one glance of their glorifed faces. Yes,
there they are nowi ! see them. But can
not stand the vision. Close the gate, or our
eyes will be quenche1 with the overpowering
brightness. Hold back the song or our ears
will never again care fol earthly anthem.
Withdraw the perfume or We shall swoon in
the fragrance that human nostrils was never
made to breath.
All these thoughts are suggested as we
stand this Easter morn amid the broken
rocks OF the Saviour tomb. Indeed, i know
that tomb has not been rebuilt, for l stood in
December of 1889 amid the ruins of that, the
most famous sepulcher of all time. There
are thousands Of tombs in our Greenwood
and Laurel Hill and Mount Auburn with
more polished stone and more eiab ma
sonry and more foliage surroundings, but as
l went down the steps of the supposed tomb
of Christ on my return from Mount Calvary,
| said to myself: This is the toni of all
tN-nA@ .nt,, thfE gfarl .,1rn b,
Incidents than around any grave of all the
world sincs death entered it,"
l could not breathe easily for overmaster-
ing emotions as i walked down the four
crumblirg steps till We came abreast of the
niche in which l think Christ was buried. l
measured the sepulchar and found it four
teen and a half feet long, eight feet high,
nine feet wide. 1t is a family tomb and
seems to have been built to hold five bodies.
But | rejoice to say that the tomb was
empty, aud that the door of the rock was
gone, and the sunlight streamed in. The
day that Christ rose and came forth the
sepulcher was demolished forever, and NJ
trowel of earthly masonry can ever rebuild
1t.
And the rupture Of those rocks, and the
snap of that Governmental seal, and the
crash Of those walls of limestone, and tina
step of the lacerated but triumphant foot
OF the risen Jesus we to-day celebrate with
acclaim OF WorsniPlns thousands, Wnhe WIN
ali the nations of Christendom, and all the
shining hosts of heaven We chant, snow is
Christ risen from the dead and become ths
drst fruits of them that slept"
oh, weep no more yonr comforts slain.
The Lord is risen, He lives again.
"And now may the God of peace. who
Brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great shepherd of the sheep, through
the blood of the everlasting covenant make
you perfect in every good word AMI work"
Halleiujahl Amen.