The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1892-05-02

70 love You thou Wnen they wore here
Conc out of hindrances into unbounded
liberty! Gone ont of January into June!
Gone where they talk about you ~ We
always talk about absent friends and
say: II wonder when they will come ur
here to join US. Hark! the outside door
Of Heaven swings open. Hark! there
are feet on the golden stairs. Perhaps
they are coming.'
I was told at JohnstOwn after the
flood that many people who had been FOL
months and years bereft for the first
time got comfort when the awful flood
came to think that their departed ones
were not present to see the catastrophe.
As the people were floating down on the
housetops they said, 'Oh, how glad l Am
that father and mother are not here, OF
''How glad am that the children are
not alive to see this horror And ought
not we who are down here amid the up
turning of this life be glad that none OF
the troubles which submerge US can ever
alright our friends assembled?
Before this 1 warrant our departed
ones have been introduced to all the
said to them: LET me introduce you to
two worlds for several hours. Let me
make you acquainted with this group Of
three heroes-John Huss, Philip Melanc-
thon and Martin Luther. Aha! here is
Fenelon! Here is Archbishop Leighton!
Here are Latimer and Ridley! Here is
Matthew Simpson. Here is poets row
James Montgomery and Anna Barbauld
and Horatius Bonar and Phoebe Palmer
and Lowell Mason"
Were your departed ones fond Of
music? What oratorios led on by Handel
and Hayden. Were they fond of pict-
ures? What Raphals pointing out skies
with all colors wrought into chariot
wheels, wings Of seraphim and corona
tions. 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 raft In
the hurricane. looking up at them sail
ing on over calm seas. under skies that
never frOwned with tempests, we hop
pied with chains; they lifted BY wings.
''SurelY the bitterness of death is past. "
Further, If what have been saying is
true, We should trust the Lord and be
thrilled with the fact that our own day
of escape cometh. If our lives were 60
ing to end when our heart ceased to pull
safe and our lungs to breathe, l would
want to take ten million years of life
here for the first installment. But, my
Christian friends, we cannot afford al
ways 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 can
not afford always to stand out here in
the vestibule of the house Of many man
sions. while the windows are illuminated
with the levee angelic, and we can
hear the laughter of those forever free,
and the ground quakes with the bound
ing feet of those who have entered upon
eternal play. Ushers of Heaven! Open
the gates. Swing them clear back on
their pearly hinges! Let the celestial
music rain on US its cadences Let the
gardens of the King breathe on
us their aromaticS Let our redeemed
ones just lei, 1t and give US one glance
of their gloritied faces. Yes, there they
are now! l see them. But cannot
stand the vision. Close the gate or our
eyes will be Quenched with the overpower-
ing brightness. Hold back the song or
our ears will never again care for earthly
anthem. Withdraw the perfume or We
shall swoon in the fragrance that human
nosrril was never made to breathe.
All these thoughts are suggested as
we stand this Easter morn amid the
broken rocks Of the Savior's tomb In
deed, know that tomb has not been re-
built, for stood in December of 1889
amid the ruins of that, the most famous
sepulcher of all time. There are thou
sands of tombs in our Greenwood and
Laurel Hill and Mount Auburn with
more polished stone and more elaborate
masonry and more foliage surroundings,
but as l went down the steps of the sup
posed tomb Of Christ on my return from
Mount Calvary. said to myself: This
is the tomb of all tombs. Around this
stand more stupendous incidents than
around any grave Of all the world since
death entered it"
could not breathe easily tor over
emotion as walked down the
four crumbling steps till We came abreast
Of the niche in which think Christ was
buried. measured the sepulcher and
found 1t fourteen 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 l rejoice
to say that the tomb was empty, and the
door Of the rock was gone. and the SUM-
light streamed in. The day that Christ
rose and came forth the sepulcher was
forever, and no trowel Of
earthly masonry can ever rebuild it
And the rupture Of those rocks, and
the snap Of the governmental seal, and
the crash Of those walls of limestone, and
the step of the lacerated but triumphant
foot Of the risen Jesus we to-day cele-
brate with acclaim of worshiping thou
sands. while with all the nations Of
and all the shining hosts
Of Heaven we chant, Now Is Christ
risen from the dead and become the first
fruits Of them that slept"
Oh, weep no more your comforts slain,
The Lord 10 risen, He lives again,
''And now may the God Of peace, who
h.