The Penn's Grove record., 1892-04-22
'REY. DR. TALMAGE.
THE 4RooKLYN DtVINE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: The Resurrection"

-. - ~
past Samuel XIV, 80.
So cried Agug, AMI the only objection
nave to this text is that a bad man uttered
IL. nevertheless il is true, an In a higher
and better sense than that 10 which It was
originally uttered. Years ago a legend
something like this was told me: In a hut
hved a very poor woman by the name OF
Misery, In front of her door was a pear tree,
winch was her only resources for a living.
Christ, the Lord, in poor garb was walking
through the earth and no one would enter
tam Him. In vain He knocked at the door
of palaces and Of humble dwellings. Cold
and hungry AMI insufficiently clad, as he
was, none received Him. But coming one
day to the hut OF this woman, whose name
was Misery, she received Him. and offered
Him a few cru,ts and asked Him to warm
Himself at the handful of Goals, and she sat
up all night that the wayfarer might have
a pillow to rest on.
In the morning this divine being asked her
as Hedeparted what she would nave Him do
in the way Of reward, and told her that He
owned the universe and would give her what
she asked. All she asked was that her pear
tree might be protected, and that the boys
who stole her fruit, once climbing the tree,
might not be able to get down without her
consent. SO it was granted. and all who
| climbed the tres were compelled to stay
4 tieit. Hlttl dNlltb Dbdlu ChLho hiOho III
told the poor woman she must go with him.
But she did not want to go, for. however
poor ones lot is, NJ one wants to go with
! Death. Then she said to Death, ~ will go
! with you if You will first climb up into my
| pear tree and bring me dow a few pears
before ! start" This he consented to do,
but having climbed into the tree he could
not again come down.
Then the troubles of the world began, for
l Gna Nh I'D NOT ,a,Iyna Tho phulipta nR had no
patients, the undertakers nj business, law
yers no wills to make, the people who waited
for inheritances could not get them, the old
men staid IN all the professions and occupa
tions so that there was no room for the
young who We're coming on, and the earth
got overcrowdei. and from all the earth the
cry went up: oh, for DEATH Where ia
DeathP' Then the people came to the poor
woman and begged her to let Death descend
from the tree. In sympathy for the world,
she consented to let Death come down On
condition, L I that was that he should never
| modest or take her away, and on that condt-
ton Death was allowed to come down, and
he kept his word and never removed her,
and for that reason we always have Misery
| with US.
In that allegory some one has set forth the
truth that | mean to present on this Easter
morning, which celebrates the resurrection
of Christ aud our coming resurrection-that
one of the grandest and mightiest mercies
of the earth is our divine permission to quit
it. Sixty-tOur persons every minute step
| off this planet. Thirty million people every
| year board this planet. As a steamer must
unload before it takes another cargo, n as
the passengers Of a rail train must leave 1t
In order to have another company OF passen.
gers enter it, 50 with this world.
What would happen to an ocean steamer
If a man, taking a stateroom, should stay in
it ~foreverf What would happen to a rail
train if one who purchases a ticket should
| always occupy the seat assigned himf And
| what would happen to this world Ii all who
came into it never departed from itf The
grave is as much a benediction as the cradle.
| What sunk that ship in the Black Sea a few
days ago. Too many passengers. What
was the matter with that steamer on the
Thames which, a few years ago, went down
| with 600 lives Too many passengers. Now
this world is only a ship, which was launched
some six thousand years ago. 1t Is sailing
at the rate OF many thousand miles an hour.
It is freighted, with mountains and cities,
and has in its staterooms and Storage about
sixteen hundred million passengers. So
many are coming aboard, it is necessary that
La good many disembark.
| Suppose that all the people that have
lived since the days of Adam and Eve were
still alive. What a cluttered up place this
world would be-no elbow room-no place
to wslk-no privacy-nothing to eat Oh
wear. or if ANYTHING were left the human
race would, like Il ~shipwrecked crew. have
to be put on small ~rations, each of US having
perhaps only q biscuit a day. And what
chance would there be for the rising genera
ItionsP The men and women who started
wbea the world started would keep the
modern people back and down, saying:
I'VE are six thousand years old. Bow
down. History is nothing, for we are older
thar history" What a mercy for the hui
imam race was deathI Within a few years
YOU can get from this world all there is in
After you have had fifty or sixty or sew
epty ~springtimes, you have seen enough
blossoms. After fifty or sixty or seventy
foliage. After fifty or sixty or seventy
winters. you have seen enough sno wstorms
and felt enough chills and wrapped yourself
in enough blankets. In the ordinary length
of human life you have carried enough bur-
dens and shed enough tears, and suffered
enough injustices, and felt enough pangS
and been clouded by enough doubts, and
surrounded by enough mysteries. We talk
about the shortness of life, but il we exer-
cised good sense We wound realize mai life Is
auite long enough.
IL we are the children Of God we are at a
BANQUET and this world Is only the first
course OF the food, and we ought to be glad
that there are other and better and richer
courses of food to be handed on. We are
here In one room of our Fathers house, but
there are rooms up stairs. They are better
pictured, better upholstered, better fur
pished. Why do We want TO stay in the
anteroom forever, when there are palatial
apartments waiting for our occupancyf
What n mercy that there is a limitation to
earthly ENVIRONMENTS
Death also makes room for improved
,,bysical machinery GU bodies have won
drous powers but they are very limited.
There are beasts that can outrun us, outfit
ms. outcarry US, The birds nave both the
earth and air TO- travel, yet we must stick
To the one. In this world, which the human
race takes for its own, there are creatures
of God that can far surpass US in some
things Death removes this slower and less
adroit machinery and makes room for some
thing better. These eyes hat can see half
a mile will be removed for those that can
sea from world to world. These ears,
which can hear a sound a few feet OFF, will
be removed for ears that can hear from
zone to zone. These feet Will be reno Jed
for powers Of locomotion swifter than the
reindeer's hoof OF eagles plume OF lightn.
Then we have only five senses and to these
we are shut up. Why only five senses? Why
mot ATTY: why not one hundred; why not a
tbousands We can have, mt we will nave
them. but not until this present physical
machinery is put out of the way. Do not
think that this body is the best that God
can do for us. God did not half try when
he contriyed your bodily mechanism. Mind
Won. / believe with all anatomists and with
ali nhysiologists aud with all scientists and
with the psalmist that I'VE are fearfully and
wonderfully made" But I believe and l
know that God can and will get US better
physical equipment.
Ia IL possible for a man to make improve
ment In almost anything and God not be
able To make improvements in mans physi-
cal machineryf Shall canal boat give way
10 limited express trainf Shall slow letter
give place to telegrsphy, that places San
Erancisco and New York within a minute of
communication Shall the telephone take
me sound Of a voice sixty miles and Instant
ly bring back another voice, and God. who
made Ire man who does these things, not be
able 10 Improve the man himself with inf
mite yslocities and infinite multiplication
Beneicent Death comes in and makes tn,
necessary removal 10 make way for these
supernatural improvements. SO also our
slow process of getting Information mus
have a substitute.